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Preparation Of Α-Hydroxylated Acetal From 2-Butanone By Indirect Electrooxidation, Hai-Qing Huang, Ye Miao, Xin-Sheng Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Acetoin (3-hydroxy-2-butanone) is an important food spice. As a platform compound, it is widely used in medicine, tobacco, cosmetics, chemical material and other industries. In this paper, α-hydroxylated acetal, an intermediate of acetoin, was prepared from 2-butanone by indirect electrooxidation in the plate and frame electrolytic cell, in which graphite plates were used as both an anode and a cathode, while KOH as an electrolyte and KI as a catalyst. Acetoin could be prepared by hydrolysis in acidic aqueous solution from acetoin intermediate. The effects of current density, electrolyte flow rate between the plates, 2-butanone concentration and electrolysis temperature …