Electrogenerated base-promoted cyclopropanation using alkyl 2-chloroacetates.

The electrochemical reduction conditions of the reaction of alkyl 2-chloroacetates in Bu4NBr/DMF using a divided cell equipped with Pt electrodes to produce the corresponding cyclopropane derivatives in moderate yields were discovered. The reaction conditions were optimized, the scope and limitations, as well as scale-up reactions were investigated. The presented method for the electrochemical production of cyclopropane derivatives is an environmentally friendly and easy to perform synthetic procedure.