Advances in electro- and sono-microreactors for chemical synthesis

Abstract

The advances in flow microreactor technology for chemical synthesis, with possible application of sonochemistry to deal with solid formations.

Memory of chirality in a room temperature flow electrochemical reactor

“…By gaining a greater understanding of the control parameters, heat transfer, mass transport and efficient mixing, recent chemical engineering progress in flow has introduced the concept of device miniaturisation in an attempt to manipulate chemical systems with difficult-to-handle reagents in an improved manner, in comparison to the conventional batch methodology 2,12 . Such improvements can be relayed in terms of a greater amount of a desired product per unit time 12 , swift reactions that may or may not involve multiple phases of matter to be run uninterrupted, a reduced exposure of harmful chemicals to the human operators. Moreover, fewer quantities of materials are required for screening, and the user is ultimately gifted with an enhanced control over selectivity, efficiency and thus, synthesises can be performed with a more green attribute 12 .…”

“…Such improvements can be relayed in terms of a greater amount of a desired product per unit time 12 , swift reactions that may or may not involve multiple phases of matter to be run uninterrupted, a reduced exposure of harmful chemicals to the human operators. Moreover, fewer quantities of materials are required for screening, and the user is ultimately gifted with an enhanced control over selectivity, efficiency and thus, synthesises can be performed with a more green attribute 12 . Because the distance between the electrodes is so small (μm range), electrogenerated ions from the solvent are formed and can act as the systems electrolyte.…”

Digitising chemical synthesis in automated and robotic flow

“…Compared to batch processing, chemical synthesis performed in continuous ow offers the user a versatile and a more advantageous approach to product manufacturing, as evidenced by the signicant attention this enabling technology has received in recent years. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Such a methodology offers an enhanced safety perspective by owing material within channels from stock containers to reactors, thus minimising human contact. It also opens the door to scalability by intercepting the ow path with a range of highly adaptive process modules (reactors, separators, lters and analytics).…”

Design and application of a modular and scalable electrochemical flow microreactor

“…In addition, due to the continuous nature of these reactors, generation of local hotspots can be prevented. For these reasons, several electrochemical continuous-flow reactors were developed, commercialized and successfully deployed in a wide variety of electrochemical reactions [ 32 , 34 – 39 , 51 , 55 – 62 ]. However, despite these great advances, we felt that a cheap, scalable and modular electrochemical flow reactor was still missing.…”