Effective Application of Microwave Resonant Cavity System to Flow Chemistry

Process intensification using immobilized enzymes for the development of white biotechnology

Process intensification of biocatalysed reactions using different techniques such as microwaves, ultrasound, hydrodynamic cavitation, ionic liquids, microreactors and flow chemistry in various industries is critically analysed and future directions provided.

Microwave Heating Outperforms Conventional Heating for a Thermal Reaction that Produces a Thermally Labile Product: Observations Consistent with Selective Microwave Heating

Microwave (MW) heating is more effective than conventional (CONV) heating for promoting a high-temperature oxidative cycloisomerization reaction that was previously reported as a key step in a total synthesis of the natural product illudinine. The thermal reaction pathway as envisioned is an inverse electron-demand dehydro-Diels-Alder reaction with in situ oxidation to generate a substituted isoquinoline, which itself is unstable to the reaction conditions. Observed reaction yields were higher at a measured bulk temperature of 200 °C than at 180 °C or 220 °C; at 24 hours than at earlier or later time points; and when the reaction solution was heated using MW energy as opposed to CONV heating with a metal heat block. Selective MW heating of polar solute aggregates is postulated to explain these observations.