Galvanostatic electrolysis of CHCl
3 in aqueous solution on various metal cathodes was studied. The concentration of CHCl
3 in aqueous solution decreased upon electrolysis and the main products were CH
4, CH
2Cl
2 and H
2. Formation of CH
3Cl was negligible. Cu and Ni cathodes yielded both CH
4 and CH
2Cl
2, while Pb cathode formed CH
2Cl
2 predominantly. The other metal cathodes mainly produced H
2 along with a small amount of CH
2Cl
2. In these electrolysis, an inverse relation between the yields of organic reduction product and H
2 was obtained, independent of the amount of electric charge.
Metal cathodes such as Cu and Pb, which have relatively large H
2 overpotential, resulted in higher yield of organic reduction product. In the galvanostatic electrolysis of CH
2Cl
2 the formation of CH
4 was negligible.
Electrolysis of lower concentration (0.8-0.6mg·l
-1) of CHCl
3 on Cu cathode gave CH
4 as the main product. Similar result was obtained with running water as a solvent.
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