Unraveling the electrophilic oxygen-mediated mechanism for alcohol electrooxidation on NiO

Aqueous organic electrosynthesis such as nucleophile oxidation reaction (NOR) is an economical and green approach. However, its development has been hindered by the inadequate understanding of the synergy between the electrochemical and non-electrochemical steps. In this study, we unravel the NOR mechanism for the primary alcohol/vicinal diol electrooxidation on NiO. Thereinto, the electrochemical step is the generation of Ni(3+)-(OH)(ads), and the spontaneous reaction between Ni(3+)-(OH)(ads) and nucleophiles is an electrocatalyst-induced non-electrochemical step. We identify that two electrophilic oxygen-mediated mechanisms (EOMs), EOM involving hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and EOM involving C–C bond cleavage, play pivotal roles in the electrooxidation of primary alcohol to carboxylic acid and the electrooxidation of vicinal diol to carboxylic acid and formic acid, respectively. Based on these findings, we establish a unified NOR mechanism for alcohol electrooxidation and deepen the understanding of the synergy between the electrochemical and non-electrochemical steps during NOR, which can guide the sustainable electrochemical synthesis of organic chemicals.