The concept of a nonresonant microwave applicator for continuous-flow organic chemistry is introduced and evaluated. The frequency of the incident microwave radiation can be adjusted between 2.4 and 2.5 GHz to optimize the energy absorbance. The temperature of the reaction is monitored by five IR sensors, and their signals can be used to automatically adjust the power output from the microwave generator. The heating of several different solvents up to 20°C above the standard boiling point has been explored. Several different organic reactions have been successfully carried out using a 200 mm × ⌽ 3 mm tubular borosilicate reactor and a flow between 47 and 2120 μL/min. The microwave heating pattern was visualized with an IR camera. The transformations include palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions (oxidative Heck and Suzuki reactions), heterocyclic chemistry (oxathiazolone and Fischer indole synthesis), rearrangement (Claisen), and a Diels−Alder cycloaddition reaction. A scale-out to 57 mmol/h was performed with the Fischer indole reaction.
SummaryIn a continuous-flow system equipped with a nonresonant microwave applicator we have investigated how to best assess the actual temperature of microwave heated organic solvents with different characteristics. This is non-trivial as the electromagnetic field will influence most traditional methods of temperature measurement. Thus, we used a microwave transparent fiber optic probe, capable of measuring the temperature inside the reactor, and investigated two different IR sensors as non-contact alternatives to the internal probe. IR sensor 1 measures the temperature on the outside of the reactor whilst IR sensor 2 is designed to measure the temperature of the fluid through the borosilicate glass that constitutes the reactor wall. We have also, in addition to the characterization of the before mentioned IR sensors, developed statistical models to correlate the IR sensor reading to a correct value of the inner temperature (as determined by the internal fiber optic probe), thereby providing a non-contact, indirect, temperature assessment of the heated solvent. The accuracy achieved with these models lie well within the range desired for most synthetic chemistry applications.
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