Koch-Haaf reaction of adamantanols in an acid-tolerant hastelloy-made microreactor

The Koch–Haaf reaction of adamantanols was successfully carried out in a microflow system at room temperature. By combining an acid-tolerant hastelloy-made micromixer, a PTFE tube, and a hastelloy-made microextraction unit, a packaged reaction-to-workup system was developed. By means of the present system, the multigram scale synthesis of 1-adamantanecarboxylic acid was achieved in ca. one hour operation.

Accelerating palladium-catalyzed C-F bond formation: use of a microflow packed-bed reactor

A flow process for Pd-catalyzed carbon fluorine bond formation is described. A microreactor using a packed-bed design allows for easy handling of large quantities of insoluble CsF with precise control over reaction times, efficient mixing, and the ability to safely handle elevated temperatures and pressures. A variety of aryl triflates, including heteroaryl ones, were converted to their corresponding aryl fluoride in short reaction times that would be difficult to achieve in a typical batch process.

An Automated Process for a Sequential Heterocycle/Multicomponent Reaction: Multistep Continuous Flow Synthesis of 5-(Thiazol-2-yl)-3,4-Dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones

The first example of a sequential heterocycle formation/multicomponent reaction using an automated continuous flow microreactor assembly is reported. Consecutive Hantzsch thiazole synthesis, deketalization, and Biginelli multicomponent reaction provides rapid and efficient access to highly functionalized, pharmacologically significant 5-(thiazol-2-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones without isolation of intermediates. These complex small molecules are generated in reaction times less than 15 min and in high yields (39-46%) over three continuous chemical steps.

A flow-microreactor approach to protecting-group-free synthesis using organolithium compounds

Protecting-group-free synthesis has received significant recent research interest in the context of ideal synthesis and green sustainable chemistry. In general, organolithium species react with ketones very rapidly, and therefore ketone carbonyl groups should be protected before an organolithium reaction, if they are not involved in the desired transformation. If organolithium chemistry could be free from such a limitation, its power would be greatly enhanced. Here we show that a flow microreactor enables such protecting-group-free organolithium reactions by greatly reducing the residence time (0.003 s or less). Aryllithium species bearing ketone carbonyl groups are generated by iodine-lithium exchange reactions of the corresponding aryl iodides with mesityllithium and are reacted with various electrophiles using a flow-microreactor system. The present method has been successfully applied to the formal synthesis of Pauciflorol F.

Deciding whether to go with the flow: evaluating the merits of flow reactors for synthesis

The fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries are transforming how their products are manufactured, where economically favorable, from traditional batchwise processes to continuous flow. This evolution is impacting synthetic chemistry on all scales-from the laboratory to full production. This Review discusses the relative merits of batch and micro flow reactors for performing synthetic chemistry in the laboratory.

Diastereoselective chain-elongation reactions using microreactors for applications in complex molecule assembly

Diastereoselective chain-elongation reactions are important transformations for the assembly of complex molecular structures, such as those present in polyketide natural products. Here we report new methods for performing crotylation reactions and homopropargylation reactions by using newly developed low-temperature flow-chemistry technology. In-line purification protocols are described, as well as the application of the crotylation protocol in an automated multi-step sequence.

Nitrile Oxide 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition by Dehydration of Nitromethane Derivatives Under Continuous Flow Conditions

Aliphatic nitrile oxides were generated in situ, by dehydration of terminal nitro compounds, and reacted with dipolarophiles using continuous flow techniques to afford substituted isoxazolines. The yields of cycloadducts were comparable with traditional flask-based reactions but reaction times were much shorter. In-line scavenger cartridges conveniently removed by-products and unreacted reagents to give almost pure crude products. The process was demonstrated up to gram scale.