V. Molina, V. Montiel, M. Domínguez
Mar 1, 2003
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0
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12
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Journal
Electrochemistry Communications
Abstract
Abstract A selective electrochemical synthesis of chloroform from carbon tetrachloride (CT) in mild conditions is studied. The voltammetric results show that in a sodium chloride–ethanol:water (4:1) solvent and using carbon as electrode, it is possible to reduce CT to chloroform with very high selectivity and current efficiency adequate for the developing of an industrial process. The influence in the electrochemical potentiostatic reduction of CT of the pH of anolyte and catholyte using a divided electrochemical “H cell”, is also investigated. When, as anolyte, a pH 7-buffered solution was used, hydrolysis of the product (chloroform) was observed as a consequence of the basic pH reached in the catholyte. This hydrolysis was not observed when an acid anolyte was used. No other products other than chloroform were detected. Finally, a galvanostatic electroreduction of CT was carried out in a homemade filter-press reactor at laboratory scale. Good current efficiency and material yield were obtained hydrogen being the only sub-product detected.