Influences of the operative parameters and the nature of the substrate on the electrocarboxylation of benzophenones

The electrocarboxylation of a series of benzophenones under galvanostatic conditions has been carried out in aprotic solvents using an undivided bulk electrolysis cell equipped with a Mg sacrificial anode. Systematic studies have been carried out in order to establish the qualitative relationships between the yield of carboxylation reaction and the operational and intrinsic parameters for the electrocarboxylation of benzophenones. For the diaryl ketones chosen for these studies, the yields of the target benzilic acids have been found to be strongly dependent on different parameters such as solvents, supporting electrolytes, cathode materials, current density, temperature and the nature of the substrates.