Electrode Reactions of Organic Compounds

The last Faraday Society Discussions on Electrode Processes were held in 1947 and marked the onset of an extensive fruitful post-war development of fast reaction techniques in electrochemistry. Considerable information has since been obtained on rate constants of simple inorganic electron transfers, paralleling a similar development in homogeneous reactions, and on electron transfer theory. A theoreticallybased relation exists between the two areas. It has often been noted that the Faraday Society Discussions have marked a turning point in a field. The area of organic reactions at electrodes has been somewhat on the periphery of the field of organic chemistry, its relation to the subject of metal-catalyzed organic syntheses notwithstanding. The papers of the present Discussions illustrate, perhaps for the first time as a body, the rich variety of studies in the present field and a role for current organic concepts. The papers may be loosely classified into the following overlapping categories.