Electrochemical reduction of benzil and salicylaldehyde at stainless steel cathode in basic aqueous ethanol medium

Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur-302 004. India E-mail : sharmaab@dataintosys.net Manuscript received 4 May 2001, revised 11 February 2002, accepted 15 February 2002 The electrochemical reduction of the benzil and salicylaldehyde was carried out at the controlled potential in 1.0 M acetate buffer at pH 9.0 for the purpose of investigating this type of reduction as a possible synthetic procedure for the preparation of 1,2-glycols. The products formed during electrolysis at constant cathode potential are reported