Abstract: Direct electrolytic oxidation of p cymene in the presence of organic solvents, appropriate supporting electrolyte and carbon rod electrodes was studied in this study.Main electrolytic oxidative products, such as, thymol methyl ether, 1 isopropyl-4-methoxymethylbenzene, cuminaldehyde, pcymen-7-ol, p(dimethoxy methyl)-isopropylbenzene, methyl 4-isopropylbenzoate, p(hydroxy-methoxymethyl)-isopropylbenzene, cuminyl acetate, and 1-(dimethoxymethyl)-4-(1 methoxy 1 methyl ethyl) benzene, were determined by GC and GC MS.Factors influencing the yield of the main oxidative product were studied in detail.Reasonable conditions for direct electrolytic oxidation of pcymene to selectively prepare cuminaldehyde are:20-25 h for electrolysis, 10:1 ratio of methanol to acetic acid, sodium fluoborate as supporting electrolyte, 1:1 area ratio of anode to cathode, 0.018 A/cm²of current density.

Key words: direct electrolytic oxidation, p-cymene, cuminaldehyde