Anion radicals and dianions as electron transfer reagents

The catalytic regeneration of depolarizers by certain substrates has been demonstrated by means of cyclic voltammetry. As depolarizers we have employed anion radicals of aromatic hydrocarbons, heteroaromatic compounds, ketones, esters, nitriles, and olefins, and dianions of aromatic hydrocarbons, heteroaromatic compounds, ketones, and esters. As substrates we have investigated simple aromatic and aliphatic halides, 1,2- and 1,3-dihalides, carbon dioxide, and activated olefins. A requirement for the observation of a catalytic wave is that the reduced substrate undergoes a practically irreversible reaction after the reaction with the reduced depolarizer; for simple halides it is a cleavage reaction, for 1,2- and 1,3-dihalides an elimination, for carbon dioxide an addition, and for activated olefins a coupling. Electrochemical investigations of these kinds of reactions may be of interest in connection with the mechanism of several types of reactions in organic chemistry.