VALORIZATION OF POLYHYDROXYLATED AND HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS THROUGH ELECTROCHEMICAL OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS

The growing population and consequent production of food, energy and materials is increasing the pressure on non-renewable fossil resources, with a consequent climate awareness. As a consequence, renewable energy-based processes are experiencing an acceleration. A significant number of environmental-friendly procedures and processes based on renewable raw materials have been reported in recent years, trying to replace the petroleum-based industry. Electrosynthesis is an approach, so far undervalued, with a huge potential to allow the shift from conventional fossil-based towards real sustainable chemistry. Electrochemistry can exploit the excess renewable electricity to convert feedstocks into commodity chemicals and industrial synthons, increasing the production efficiency and reducing environmental impact along the entire value chain. Until few years ago, electrochemistry was regarded as a specialized niche, with only few industrial processes available like the chlor-alkali process. But, also thanks to the increasing use of renewable energies, it has been shown that electrochemical routes can be more advantageous than the chemical ones. Thus, an upscaling of the most promising electrochemical processes will be necessary in the short-term future. In this context of increasing importance of electrochemistry as a valuable ally for displacing petrochemical industrial processes, the aim of this PhD project was to study organic electrochemistry applied to the synthesis of polyhydroxylated compounds of industrial interest and to the degradation of halogenated pollutants.