Synthesis of -Chloroarylacetic Acid via Electrochemical Carboxylation of ,-Dichloroarylmethane Derivatives

The electrocarboxylation of alpha,alpha-dichloroarylmethane derivatives in the presence of CO2 was achieved, providing several alpha-chloroarylacetic acid derivatives with modest yields but high selectivity (chlorinated vs. non-chlorinated or dicarboxylic acid products). The obtained products were then involved in several chemical transformations, underlining their potential as versatile intermediates in synthetic chemistry. A mechanism was also proposed based upon a control experiment and cyclic voltammetry (CV) study.