InnoChem targets a unifying redox potential scale that is valid for all media. Redox potentials, and thus also pH values, are intrinsically important thermodynamic parameters within chemistry and are used to describe and predict electron and proton transfer reactions, two of the most important reaction types in chemistry; in fact, these two quantities are also of some importance outside the chemical sciences. So far, with the help of so-called extra-thermodynamic assumptions, only vague connections between redox scales exist, which are solely valid for one medium or solvent (e.g. water). InnoChem aims to lay the thermodynamic basis that justifies this unification. Based on this, data from different scales only valid for one medium will be incorporated into this scale.
Substances that do nothing more than remove an electron from a substrate without undergoing further reactions we call deelectronators (deelectronation is thus a partial step of oxidation). Although extremely useful, such compounds are surprisingly underrepresented in the chemist´s toolbox. InnoChem aims to change this by synthesizing, characterizing and testing new and very potent deelectronators. The potential of these compounds will be incorporated into the unifying scale accordingly.
Deelectronators are an essential prerequisite for creating and maintaining highly inert chemical environments in which even extremely reactive compounds remain stable, i.e. do not undergo any reaction. Utilizing this so-called pseudo gas-phase, note that this is a condensed phase, InnoChem aims to produce new reactive cations that are either not yet known or only known in the real gas phase (and partially at very low temperatures). However, the pseudo gas-phase also requires sufficiently inert solvents, which are also being investigated with InnoChem.
The reactive cations created, e.g. carbocations, are tested for their ability to be used as redox mediators for electrosynthetic or electrocatalytic reactions. This makes InnoChem relevant not only from a theoretical and academic point of view, but also from a practical one.
