Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1995, 60, 928-934
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc19950928

The Paired Electrochemical Synthesis of Gluconic Acid and Sorbitol

Hongmei Lia, Wei Lia, Zicheng Guoa, Dengping Gua,*, Shengmin Caib and Akira Fujishimac

a Chemistry Department, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050016, People's Republic of China
b Chemistry Department, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China
c Department of Synthetic Chemistry, Tokyo University, Tokyo 113, Japan

Abstract

Gluconic acid and sorbitol are obtained simultaneously both with 90% yields by paired electrolysis of glucose, with a Pb sheet cathode and a dimension stable anode (DSA) in a press filtration diaphragm cell. The anolyte is composed from 66.7% glucose and 2% NaBr, and the catholyte from 66.7% glucose and 2.5% Na2SO4, respectively. The electrolysis was performed at the temperature of 60 C, at the current density of 50 mA cm-2, Qr is 110%. At this optimum conditions the current efficiencies for both gluconic acid and sorbitol are higher than 80%.