Bridging Lab and Industry with Flow Electrochemistry

Abstract

A revitalization of organic electrosynthesis has incited the organic chemistry community to adopt electrochemistry as a green and cost-efficient method for activating small molecules to replace highly toxic and expensive redox chemicals. However, many of the critical challenges of batch electrosynthesis, especially for organic synthesis, still remain. The combination of continuous flow technology and electrochemistry is a potent means to enable industry to implement large scale electrosynthesis. Indeed, flow electrosynthesis helps overcome problems that mainly arise from macro batch electro-organic systems, such as mass transfer, ohmic drop, and selectivity, but this is still far from being a flawless and generic applicable process. As a result, a notable increase in research on methodology and hardware sophistication has emerged, and many hitherto uncharted chemistries have been achieved. To better help the commercialization of widescale electrification of organic synthesis, we highlight in this perspective the advances made in large-scale flow electrosynthesis and its future trajectory while pointing out the main challenges and key improvements of current methodologies.

Electrochemically Driven Radical Reactions: From Direct Electrolysis to Molecular Catalysis

“…Compared with batch reactors, continuous‐flow electrochemical microreactors are characterized by small interelectrode distance, short residence time, and large surface to volume ratio. These features ensure efficient mass transfer, facilitates conversion, allow easy scale‐up, and reduce the use of supporting electrolyte [53–58] . Despite these attractive features of continuous flow electrochemistry, its synthetic applications remain scarce [47,59–65] …”

Electrochemical C–H phosphorylation of arenes in continuous flow suitable for late-stage functionalization

“…Our interests in electrochemically driven radical reactions prompted us to investigate the reactivity of P-radical cations 52 . We surmise that the use of a continuous flow electrochemical reactor [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] should be helpful in facilitating P-radical cation formation and its subsequent trapping reaction by the arenes because of the large ratio of electrode surface area to volume and efficient mass transfer in the flow reactor.…”

Evaluating the Green Credentials of Flow Chemistry towards Industrial Applications

“…In addition, flow processing is an automatable technology that increases mass transfer and facilitates subsequent scale up. Recent reviews by Nöel 24 and Lam 25 have highlighted the potential of flow electrochemistry for cleaner chemical synthesis in academic and industrial settings.…”