Waste-free oxidation of alcohols at the surface of catalytic electrodes: What is required for industrial uptake?

The electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohols at the surface of stable catalytic electrodes functionalized with aminoxyl radicals results in a waste-free process affording highly valued carbonyl or carboxylic compounds using an electric current only. Hydrogen is the only by-product of the reaction, no hazardous chemical oxidants are used throughout the process, whereas the separation of the valued reaction product from cytotoxic and genotoxic TEMPO-like radicals is no longer required. We provide a critical insight on the economic, technological, and educational issues that, in our viewpoint, will drive the uptake of this eminently green and highly effective synthetic organic chemistry technology in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries.