An electrode can be plated by having a solution full of electrolyte, using the the metal that will receive the plating as the cathode, and the metal doing the plating as the anode. Current is put through the cell and the anode dissolves oxidized metal ions into the solution, which gravitate over to the cathode, and then "plate" onto the cathode.
My question is, what prevents this process from happening when doing an electrolytic organic reduction or oxidation? Imagine you plate an electrode with a specific metal to be used as an anode in a different reaction, what prevents that anode from immediately corroding and having the metal ions fall off into the solution when current is applied? Does the presence of an organic species to be reduced/oxidized take priority over the anode corrosion, thus preventing it?
