Large-Scale Synthesis of Immunoactivating Natural Product, Pristane, by Continuous Microfluidic Dehydration as the Key Step

Efficient synthesis of diverse C-3 monodesmosidic saponins by a continuous microfluidic glycosylation/batch deprotection method

Triterpene and steroid saponins have various pharmacological activities but the synthesis of C-3 monodesmosidic saponins remains challenging. Herein, a series of C-3 glycosyl monodesmosidic saponins was synthesized via the microfluidic glycosylation of triterpenoids or steroids at the C-3 position, without the formation of orthoester byproducts, and subsequent deprotection of the benzoyl (Bz) group. This microfluidic glycosylation/batch deprotection sequence enabled the efficient synthesis of C-3 saponins with fewer purification steps and a shorter reaction time than conventional batch synthesis and stepwise microfluidic glycosylation. Furthermore, this system minimized the consumption of the imidate donor. Using this reaction system, 18 different C-3 saponins and 13 different C-28-benzyl-C-3 saponins, including 8 new compounds, were synthesized from various sugars and triterpenes or steroids. Our synthetic approach is expected to be suitable for further expanding the C-3 saponin library for pharmacological studies.

Greener Synthesis of Pristane by Flow Dehydrative Hydrogenation of Allylic Alcohol Using a Packed-Bed Reactor Charged by Pd/C as a Single Catalyst

Our previous work established a continuous-flow synthesis of pristane, which is a saturated branched alkane obtained from a Basking Shark. The dehydration of an allylic alcohol that is the key to a tetraene was carried out using a packed-bed reactor charged by an acid–silica catalyst (HO-SAS) and flow hydrogenation using molecular hydrogen via a Pd/C catalyst followed. The present work relies on the additional propensity of Pd/C to serve as an acid catalyst, which allows us to perform a flow synthesis of pristane from the aforementioned key allylic alcohol in the presence of molecular hydrogen using Pd/C as a single catalyst, which is applied to both dehydration and hydrogenation. The present one-column-two-reaction-flow system could eliminate the use of an acid catalyst such as HO-SAS and lead to a significant simplification of the production process.

A comprehensive review of flow chemistry techniques tailored to the flavours and fragrances industries

Due to their intrinsic physical properties, which includes being able to perform as volatile liquids at room and biological temperatures, fragrance ingredients/intermediates make ideal candidates for continuous-flow manufacturing. This review highlights the potential crossover between a multibillion dollar industry and the flourishing sub-field of flow chemistry evolving within the discipline of organic synthesis. This is illustrated through selected examples of industrially important transformations specific to the fragrances and flavours industry and by highlighting the advantages of conducting these transformations by using a flow approach. This review is designed to be a compendium of techniques and apparatus already published in the chemical and engineering literature which would constitute a known solution or inspiration for commonly encountered procedures in the manufacture of fragrance and flavour chemicals.

Anionic Polymerization Using Flow Microreactors

Flow microreactors are expected to make a revolutionary change in chemical synthesis involving various fields of polymer synthesis. In fact, extensive flow microreactor studies have opened up new possibilities in polymer chemistry including cationic polymerization, anionic polymerization, radical polymerization, coordination polymerization, polycondensation and ring-opening polymerization. This review provides an overview of flow microreactors in anionic polymerization and their various applications.

The synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using continuous flow chemistry

The implementation of continuous flow processing as a key enabling technology has transformed the way we conduct chemistry and has expanded our synthetic capabilities. As a result many new preparative routes have been designed towards commercially relevant drug compounds achieving more efficient and reproducible manufacture. This review article aims to illustrate the holistic systems approach and diverse applications of flow chemistry to the preparation of pharmaceutically active molecules, demonstrating the value of this strategy towards every aspect ranging from synthesis, in-line analysis and purification to final formulation and tableting. Although this review will primarily concentrate on large scale continuous processing, additional selected syntheses using micro or meso-scaled flow reactors will be exemplified for key transformations and process control. It is hoped that the reader will gain an appreciation of the innovative technology and transformational nature that flow chemistry can leverage to an overall process.

Flash chemistry: flow chemistry that cannot be done in batch

Flash chemistry based on high-resolution reaction time control using flow microreactors enables chemical reactions that cannot be done in batch and serves as a powerful tool for laboratory synthesis of organic compounds and for production in chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Micro-flow synthesis and structural analysis of sterically crowded diimine ligands with five aryl rings

Sterically crowded diimine ligands with five aryl rings were prepared in one step in good yields using a micro-flow technique. X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed the detailed structure of the bulky ligands. The nickel complexes prepared from the ligands exerted high polymerization activity in the ethylene homopolymerization and copolymerization of ethylene with polar monomers.

Flow chemistry syntheses of natural products

The development and application of continuous flow chemistry methods for synthesis is a rapidly growing area of research. In particular, natural products provide demanding challenges to this developing technology. This review highlights successes in the area with an emphasis on new opportunities and technological advances.

Micro Reactors, Flow Reactors and Continuous Flow Synthesis

Dr Paul Watts is a reader in organic chemistry at The University of Hull and since graduating from the University of Bristol, where he completed a PhD in bio-organic natural product synthesis, he has led the Micro Reactor Group at Hull. In this role, he has published 90 papers, and he regularly contributes to the field by way of invited book chapters, review articles, and keynote lecturers on the subject of micro reaction technology in organic synthesis.

Dr Charlotte Wiles is the Chief Technology Officer at Chemtrix BV, and has been actively researching within the area of micro reaction technology for 10 years, starting with a PhD entitled Micro reactors in organic chemistry, which she obtained from The University of Hull in 2003. In the past decade, she has authored many scientific papers and review articles, recently co-authoring a book on the subject of micro reaction technology in organic synthesis. More recently, she has tailored her experience to the development and evaluation of commercially available continuous flow reactors, systems and peripheral equipment.

This review article explains the advantages of micro reactors and flow reactors as tools for conducting organic synthesis and describes how the technology may be used in research and development as well as production. A selection of examples is taken from the literature to illustrate how micro reactors enables chemists to perform their reactions more efficiently than when using batch processes.

Practical synthesis of photochromic diarylethenes in integrated flow microreactor systems

An effective method for the synthesis of photochromic diarylethenes through the generation of heteroaryllithiums and subsequent reaction with octafluorocyclopentene has been developed by using integrated flow microreactor systems. Reactions can be conducted without using cryogenic conditions by virtue of effective temperature and residence time control, although much lower temperatures (<-78 °C) are needed for batch macroreactions. Moreover, the synthesis of unsymmetrical diarylethenes, which is difficult to achieve when using conventional batch macrosystems, has been accomplished based on the selective introduction of one aryl group to give arylheptafluorocyclopentene followed by the introduction of another aryl group. The productivity of the laboratory-scale system is approximately 0.5 mmol min(-1). Therefore, the present integrated flow microreactor method serves as a practical way of synthesizing various photochromic diarylethene derivatives.

Solid-supported gallium triflate: an efficient catalyst for the three-component ketonic Strecker reaction

In light of the growing interest in the use of rare earth metal triflates as water-tolerant Lewis acid catalysts, we embarked upon the development of a solid-supported gallium triflate (PS-Ga(OTf)(2) ) derivative as a means of increasing the cleanliness and cost effectiveness of using these increasingly expensive catalytic materials in synthetic processes. Having previously highlighted the advantages associated with coupling solid-supported catalysis and the emerging area of micro-reaction technology, we screened PS-Ga(OTf)(2) for activity towards the ketonic Strecker reaction, in which the target α-aminonitriles were obtained in higher yield and purity compared to reactions reported in literature, in which the analogous homogeneous catalyst was used.

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.

Homocoupling of aryl halides in flow: Space integration of lithiation and FeCl(3) promoted homocoupling

The use of FeCl₃ resulted in a fast homocoupling of aryllithiums, and this enabled its integration with the halogen–lithium exchange reaction of aryl halides in a flow microreactor. This system allows the homocoupling of two aryl halides bearing electrophilic functional groups, such as CN and NO₂, in under a minute.

Efficient photosensitized oxygenations in phase contact enhanced microreactors

A transparent dual-channel microreactor with highly enhanced contact area-to-volume ratio was fabricated for efficient photosensitized oxygenations. The dual-channel microreactor shielded with polyvinylsilazane (PVSZ) consisting of an upper channel for liquid flow and a lower channel for O(2) flow, allows sufficient phase contact along the parallel channels through a gas permeable PDMS membrane for maintaining the O(2) saturated solution. Under full exposure of reactants to light, the reactions in high concentration are completed in minutes rather than hours that it takes to complete in a batch reactor. Moreover, the scale-up process using the microreactor revealed higher productivity than the batch reactor, which would be valuable for the practical applications in a broad range of gas-liquid chemical reactions.

Synthesis of (+)-dumetorine and congeners by using flow chemistry technologies

An efficient total synthesis of the natural alkaloid (+)-dumetorine by using flow technology is described. The process entailed five separate steps starting from the enantiopure (S)-2-(piperidin-2-yl)ethanol 4 with 29% overall yield. Most of the reactions were carried out by exploiting solvent superheating and by using packed columns of immobilized reagents or scavengers to minimize handling. New protocols for performing classical reactions under continuous flow are disclosed: the ring-closing metathesis reaction with a novel polyethylene glycol-supported Hoveyda catalyst and the unprecedented flow deprotection/Eschweiler-Clarke methylation sequence. The new protocols developed for the synthesis of (+)-dumetorine were applied to the synthesis of its simplified natural congeners (-)-sedamine and (+)-sedridine.

Continuous flow organic synthesis under high-temperature/pressure conditions

Microreactor technology and continuous flow processing in general are key features in making organic synthesis both more economical and environmentally friendly. When preformed under a high-temperature/pressure process intensification regime many transformations originally not considered suitable for flow synthesis owing to long reaction times can be converted into high-speed flow chemistry protocols that can operate at production-scale quantities. This Focus Review summarizes the state of the art in high-temperature/pressure microreactor technology and provides a survey of successful applications of this technique from the recent synthetic organic chemistry literature.