Surfactant-enhanced Cu^δ+ and induced electrostatic forces promote the electrocatalytic deuteron-dechlorination of trichloroacetic acid.

ABSTRACT: Electrocatalytic deuteron-dechlorination of trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) in D₂O provides a green route to synthesize commercial acetic-d₃ acid-d (AA-d₄). Synthesizing AA-d₄ with a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) and reaction rate is highly challenging because of the difficult C-Cl bond deuteration of the 2-monochloroacetic-2,2-d₂ acid-d (MCAA-d₃) intermediate. Here, a quaternary ammonium salt surfactant-modified low-coordination copper electrocatalyst is designed, achieving TCAA-to-AA-d₄ with a 91% selectivity, 91% FE and 0.59 mmol h^-1 reaction rate at -100 mA cm^-2. Mechanistic and kinetic studies reveal that the surfactant enhances the adsorption of MCAA-d₃ through electrostatic forc

SUBMITTER: Qin M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12644465 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature