The Electrolytic Reduction of Diisopropyl Ketone in Acid Solution

The electrolytic reduction of diisopropyl ketone has been studied in acid solution at cathodes of zinc, cadmium, mercury, and lead. The main products are the saturated hydrocarbon and secondary alcohol with pinacol and olefin in smaller amounts. The temperature at which the solid electrodes were cast had a marked effect on the course of the reduction. This paper is a continuation of a study of the elec-trolytic reduction of aliphatic ketones, in which it was shown that methyl propyl ketone was reduced to pentane at cathodes of zinc, cadmium, mercury, and lead in yields varying from 23 to 75 % (1). Since it might be expected that steric hindrance would influ-ence the course of the reduction of an aliphatic ketone (12), it seemed desirable to investigate the effect of branched chains adjacent to the carbonyl group.