Electroorganic synthesis can be utilized as a green alternative in complex organic synthesis reactions for pharmaceutical compounds, mitigating or eliminating complex stoichiometric oxidants during organic synthesis. An electrochemical oxidation reaction can make a synthetic transformation more cost effective and more efficient when compared to traditional oxidation processes. Recently, literature has indicated that in waste water treatment applications, benzene and phenols are completely oxidized, resulting in CO₂ formation, but interestingly also resulting in some partial oxidation products of quinones and catechols. Following a similar scheme to intentionally produce partial electrochemical oxidation products and oxidation intermediates can yield interesting new chemistries.

In this work, we will focus on heterocyclic electrochemistry and their partial oxidations specifically for pyridones. Pyridones and pyridines are considered for their possible use in biological reactions or in mimicking bioorganic processes. Various electrochemical oxidations with pyridones as an organic substrate are being explored, specifically N-alkyl pyridones.

Herein, focus will be on examining various cyclic voltammograms for different supporting electrolyte systems while comparing one and two electrochemical cell systems. Reaction rates and possible electrochemical mechanisms will be developed similarly to literature on electrochemical sensors. Furthermore, the electrochemical analysis will be derived and compared to the reaction products characterized by LC-MS.