Electrochemical Synthesis of 2-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-[(3,4- dihydroxyphenyl)(methyl)amino]cyclohexanone

Electrochemical oxidation of catechol has been studied in the presence of ketamine as a drug in phosphate buffer solution mixed with ethanol using voltammetric techniques. The obtained results indicated that the o -quinone formed from electro-oxidation of catechol participated in a 1,4-Michael addition reaction to form the corresponding new 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-[(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)(methyl)amino]cyclohexanone under ECE mechanism. The electro-organic synthesis has been successfully performed under mild condition in a divided cell in good yield.