Revisiting the Electrochemical Carboxylation of Naphthalene with CO 2 : Selective Monocarboxylation of 2-Substituted Naphthalenes.

Numerous remarkable reactions based on electrochemical carboxylations using CO 2 have recently attracted considerable attention. In contrast to more recent examples, the electrochemical carboxylation of naphthalene had already been established in 1959, whereby a dearomative dicarboxylation selectively produces 1,4-dicarboxylated 1,4-dihydronaphthalene derivatives. Here, we report that the use of electron-deficient naphthalene derivatives in the presence of a redox mediator such as p -terphenyl and H 2 O under CO 2 bubbling affords trans -1,2-disubstituted 1,2-dihydronaphthalene derivatives.