Correspondence on “Organo‐Mediator Enabled Electrochemical Deuteration of Styrenes”

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie 2024-11, Vol.136 (46), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Kolb, Simon, Werz, Daniel B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deuteration; Deuterium; Direct reduction; Electrochemistry; hydrogenation; mediators; Styrene; Styrenes; synthetic electrochemistry
• ISSN: 0044-8249; 1521-3757
• DOI: 10.1002/ange.202316037

The recently reported electrochemical, organo‐mediator enabled deuteration of styrenes, a reaction referred to as “electrochemical deuterium atom transfer”, differs mechanistically from reported direct electrochemical hydrogenations/deuterations only by a mediated, homogeneous SET to the substrates. By comparing direct vs. mediated processes in general and for styrene reduction, we display that Qiu's work does not change the concept of this chemistry. Experiments with mediators and the direct reduction of examples from the reported scope show that even electron‐rich substrates can be reduced when our direct protocol, published six months before Qiu's work, is applied. A comparison between the recently reported organo‐mediator enabled deuteration of styrenes and previously published direct methods display that his transformation does not establish a novel concept, but simply an addition to the portfolio of known reactions. Addition of mediators to our established direct electrolysis protocol and direct conversion of reported scope examples serve further to strengthen this statement.