Organic Electrosynthesis - Fundamentals and Applications of Organic Electrochemistry - page 252

electrochemical deposition of various metals in
ionic liquids is possible. For instance, Zn, Ga
and In can be electrochemically deposited from
mixtures of [emim]Cl and ZnCl 2 , GaCl 3 and
InCl 3 , respectively. A variety of typical elements
and transition metals can be deposited from
ionic liquids other than chloride ionic liquid.
Furthermore, it is known that one-electron
electrochemical reduction of oxygen molecules
in ionic liquids generates superoxide ions
efficiently.
6.9 Thin-Layer Electrolytic Cells
Although electro-organic syntheses have been
established as a powerful tool in organic
syntheses, they still are in development to fulfil
their potential as a 'green' methodology. In
conventional electrosynthetic processes, a large
amount of supporting electrolyte has to be
added to the solvent to give sufficient electrical
conductivity, but the presence of a large amount
of the supporting electrolyte might cause
separation problems in the reaction mixture
work-up and additional waste problems.
The capillary gap cell developed at BASF for the
commercial electrosynthetic process (paired
electrosynthesis of phthalide and
t -butylbenzaldehyde) allows the electrolysis to
be conducted even in a dilute electrolyte
solution. The cell consists of circular disk
electrodes with a small interelectrode gap (1-2