The Green Electrochemical Synthesis of Periodates and Application in API Synthesis

Periodates represent one of the most powerful and versatile oxidizers for organic synthesis. Common ways to generate it electrochemically employ lead dioxide anodes. The disintegration of these electrodes cause contaminations which impede sensitive applications.[1] The purification of periodates makes this reagent usually too costly pharmaceutical applications. With the use of boron-doped diamond a direct conversion of the inexpensive sodium and potassium iodide within an eight-electron oxidation process renders periodate. The novel process is scalable, heavy metal-free and can be conducted in batch as well as flow electrolyzers.[2] This approach can also be used for the regeneration of periodates from iodates. The process was implemented in a new synthetic approach to levetiracetam, which demonstrates the technical application and recycling of iodates in API synthesis.[3] The reactor concepts for the efficient preparation of multi-kg quantities will be presented. References: [1] D. Pollok, S. R. Waldvogel, Chem. Sci. 11 (2020) 12375–12592. [2] S. Arndt, D. Weis, K. Donsbach, S. R. Waldvogel, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 132 , (2020) 8112-8118. [3] S. Arndt, B. Grill, H. Schwab, G. Steinkellner, U. Pogorevčnik, D. Weis, A. M. Nauth, T. Opatz, K. Donsbach, S. R. Waldvogel, M. Winkler, Green Chem. ( 2020) , accepted.