Two papers from a group in Amsterdam show insights in electrochemical pathways. ‘If you want to transfer these processes towards the industrial scale, you need to understand the pathway.’

Electrochemistry is often portrayed as green compared to traditional organic or catalytic chemistry. But what makes it green? ‘When you talk about the energy transition in particular, it is green in the sense that you can drive electrochemical reactions with just electrons’, says Amanda Garcia, assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam. ‘You don’t need high temperature or pressure, and you can usually do the reactions in water, although we’re also looking at friendlier organic solvents.’ One caveat, of course, is that the electrons should be green, generated by wind turbines or solar panels.

Recently, Garcia’s group published two papers, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and ChemCatChem, on synthesising useful compounds in a greener and more sustainable way. ‘Although they are quite different in terms of content, all the reactions are driven by electrons under ambient conditions.’