Stabilizing Lead Cathodes with Diammonium Salt Additives in the Deoxygenation of Aromatic Amides
Lead is efficiently protected against cathodic corrosion by the addition of diammonium salts in the electrolyte. The cationic coating of the cathode allows the efficient electroreduction of benzamides to benzylamines. The electrochemical deoxygenation of the amide is achieved without the use of oxophilic agents or sacrificial anodes. The surface of the lead cathode stays smooth and the cathode can be reused for multiple runs, providing <2.5 ppm of the crude product. Cyclic voltammetry studies reveal a shift in the onset potential of the hydrogen evolution reaction by −157 mV.
Toward Three-Dimensional Chemical Imaging of Ternary Cu–Sn–Pb Alloys Using Femtosecond Laser Ablation/Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Femtosecond laser ablation/ionization mass spectrometry (LIMS) has been applied to probe the spatial element composition of three ternary Cu-Sn-Pb model bronze alloys (lead bronzes: CuSn10Pb10, CuSn7Pb15, and CuSn5Pb20), which were recently identified as high-performance cathode materials in the context of electro-organic synthesis (dehalogenation, deoxygenation) of pharmaceutically relevant building blocks. The quantitative and spatially resolved element analysis of such cathode materials will help in understanding the observed profound differences in their electrochemical reactivity and stability. For that purpose, we developed a measurement procedure using the LIMS technique which allows…