An oxidative cleavage reaction of the acyl−carbon bond in phenylacetone derivatives under cathodic reduction is reported. This particular transformation is driven by the cathodic reduction of dissolved molecular oxygen to superoxide anions. Various cathode materials were examined, and we discovered that boron‐doped diamond (BDD) enables highly efficient molecular conversion, owing to BDD's outstanding electrochemical property for utilizing the small amounts of molecular oxygen effectively. The scope of the reaction is broad and can be applied to a variety of substrates, ranging from ketones to esters and amides. As an electric current is directly employed to generate the superoxide anion, the reaction is metal‐ and catalyst‐free. Electro‐organic synthesis using the carbon‐based BDD electrode thus provides access to sustainable molecular transformations.

中文翻译：

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电生超氧阴离子对苯丙酮中碳-碳键的氧化裂解

据报道，在阴极还原下，苯丙酮衍生物中的酰基碳键发生了氧化裂解反应。这种特定的转变是由溶解的分子氧的阴极还原为超氧阴离子驱动的。对各种阴极材料进行了检查，我们发现掺硼金刚石（BDD）能够实现高效的分子转化，这是由于BDD具有出色的电化学性能，可有效利用少量的分子氧。反应的范围很广，可以应用于从酮到酯和酰胺的各种底物。由于直接使用电流产生超氧阴离子，因此该反应不含金属和催化剂。