Asian Journal of Chemistry; Vol. 31, No. 3 (2019), 642-646
A
SIAN
J
OURNAL OF HEMISTRY
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Electrochemical Synthesis of Organoantimony Compounds and their Coordination Compounds
SARBJIT RALA
Department of Chemistry, Mata Sundri University Girls College, Mansa-151505, India
Corresponding author: E-mail: ralasarbjit@yahoo.com
Received: 28 September 2018;
Accepted: 22 November 2018;
Published online: 31 January 2019;
AJC-19261
Electrochemical reactions of bromoethane, 1-bromopropane, 1-chlorobutane and chlorobenzene have been carried out in acetonitrile at
sacrificial antimony anode using tetrabutylammonium chloride as supporting electrolyte. The products isolated from the anode compartment
have been characterized by elemental analysis and infrared spectral studies and are identified as organoantimony compounds. Coordination
compounds of same have been synthesized with ligand (1,10-phenanthroline and 2,2'-bipyridyl). All these reactions proceed with high
current efficiencies.
Keywords:Antimony,Acetonitrile, Tetrabutylammonium chloride, 1,10-Phenanthroline, 2,2'-Bipyridyl, Organoantimony compounds.
photochemical methods. Generally, the electrochemical method
gives quantitative yield of the desired product. (d) This method
usually needs low-cost starting material as the reaction can
directly be conducted with metal instead of using its costly
compounds. (e) This technique does not cause any pollution
problem, thus is a keen step towards green chemistry [6,7]. (f)
The technique generally provides shortcut routes to multi-step
reactions. (g) The rate of electrochemical reactions depends
both on temperature and potential, whereas in case of chemical
reactions, it depends only upon temperature. In this method
by changing the potential one can change the reaction rate
many times at the same temperature which otherwise is difficult
to attain in chemical reactions [8,9]. Thus, electrochemical
reactions can be conducted at ambient temperatures. (h) The
electrochemical reactions have low activation energy and hence
these are fast reactions as compared to usual chemical reactions.
INTRODUCTION
Due to adverse effects of antimony and its compounds on
human life are considered to be priority pollutants interest by
the USEPA and the EU, as it enters in environment in a signi-
ficant amount through widely use in industries. Medicinally,
trivalent organoantimony compounds have been used widely
in a variety of reactions viz., cross-coupling, self-coupling
reactions, etc. Optically active organoantimony compounds
are utilized for asymmetric synthesis, i.e., synthesis of optically
active antimony compounds. Antimony compounds also
exhibit significant biological activity [1], catalytic oxidation
[2], antimicrobial, antitumor activities [3], antileishmanial
activity [4] as well as cytostatic activities [5].
A close study of suggests that the electrochemical synthetic
technique has many advantages over the conventional synthetic
methods such as: (a) It minimizes the number of chemicals
employed as reactions are carried out without introducing any
foreign oxidizing or reducing reagent into reaction mixture.
The product thus can be easily isolated in comparatively pure
form directly from the reaction mixture. (b) The electrochemical
methods are extremely selective. In case the product can further
undergo oxidation or reduction, the desired product can be
obtained by the application of appropriate potential across
the electrodes. (c) The yield of this method is invariably high
as compared to other synthetic methods like thermal and
EXPERIMENTAL
Electrolytic cell: Electrolysis was carried out in an H-type
cell made of Pyrex glass in which the cathode and anode
compartments were separated from each other by a sintered
glass disc of G-3 porosity. Both compartments were provided
with two openings; one for guard tube and the other for the
electrode. Platinum foil (1.0 cm × 1.0 cm) and antimony sheet
(2.0 cm × 10 cm × 0.2 cm) were used as cathode and anode
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