Catalysis of the Electroreduction of Allyl Chloride by Cobalt 2,2'-Bipyridine Complexes

The electrochemical reduction of allyl chloride is strongly catalyzed in the presence of cobalt complexes of 2,2'-bipyridine. A prominent reaction product of the catalyzed reduction is 1,5-hexadiene. Voltammetry, coulometry, and gas chromatographic data are presented and analyzed and a mechanistic scheme proposed to. account for the catalytic action of the cobalt-2,2'-bi-pyridine complexes. Recently we reported studies (1) which examined a previous claim (2) that the electroreduction of acrylo-nitrile in acetonitrile was catalyzed by a complex of cobalt with 2,2'-bipyridine. These studies demonstrated the absence of such catalysis for acrylonitrile and a number of other vinyl monomers but one substrate, allyl chloride, did exhibit a very large enhancement in its reduction rate in the presence of cobalt 2,2'-bi