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While valuable chemicals can be obtained from biomass electro-oxidation, the mechanisms can be challenging to discern. Here, authors show that explicit control of electrochemical dehydrogenation mechanisms enables selective secondary alcohol oxidation of glycerol to produce 1,3-dihydroxyacetone.

(Photo)electrochemical cells that produce fuels have often relied on water oxidation to complete the redox cycle. Here, the authors discuss alcohol oxidation as an alternative reaction and consider general mechanistic features of oxidation electrocatalysts.