Ricerc@Sapienza

Copper nanostructures were electrodeposited onto FTO in potentiostatic conditions at acidic pH without and with organic additives with different charge and structure: two cationic surfactants (hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and substituted deoxycholic acid), two anionic ones (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate and sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate) and two neutral ones (saponin and deoxycholic acid). Shape evolution (assessed by image analyses of SEM micrographs) was determined for different copper concentrations (0.001–0.1 M) and discharged charge (Q = 0.001–0.1 C) without additives.

The benzoin condensation starting from benzaldehyde and the subsequent benzoin amidation to benzamide can be efficiently carried out under very mild conditions in an electrolysis cell. Among the advantages of using electrochemistry to generate our active reagents, the use of the easily dosed and non pollutant electron, instead of stoichiometric amounts of redox reagents or bases, usually renders the electrochemical methodology “greener” than classical organic reactions. Benzoin is obtained in good yield (85 %) carrying out the reaction in the room temperature ionic liquid BMIm-BF4.