Flow Chemistry – A Key Enabling Technology for (Multistep) Organic Synthesis

Abstract

Laboratory scaled flow-through processes have seen an explosive development over the past decade and have become an enabling technology for improving synthetic efficiency through automation and process optimization.

Design and additive manufacture for flow chemistry

“…1 In recent decades, technological advances have opened up a field of chemistry known as flow chemistry, based around the continuous flow of reagents through chemical reactors. 2 These reactors typically come in the form of micron-sized channels patterned into the surface of a glass or polymer chip (often referred to as "Lab-on-a-Chip"), 3 or more simply as lengths of tubing typically made from stainless steel, or inert polymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or polyetheretherketone (PEEK). 4 Reactors can be integrated with other flow accessories via the use of fluidic connectors; compression fittings or ferrules (usually PEEK)…”

“…This would be a consequence of less heat leakage into the powder bed, leading to less unwanted powder sintering. To determine the potential build resolution of the new SLM, a series of short channels of smaller channel diameters than had been previously attempted (SLM parts [1][2][3][4][5] were built. These helical channels would range in internal channel diameter from 1 -2 mm.…”

The route from problem to solution in multistep continuous flow synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds

“…Our ongoing efforts in this field 9 inspired us to summarize the difficulties concerning the integration of individually optimized chemical reactions into multistep systems, as well as common problems and their innovative solutions described in the recent literature [6][7][8][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] of API continuous flow synthesis, including analytics and purification methods.…”

A Microfluidic Toolbox for the Development of In-Situ Product Removal Strategies in Biocatalysis

“…Easy combination of different modules makes the microfluidic toolbox highly flexible for testing various combinations of reactors and separation modules [52,99]. Additionally, this flexibility allows the user to investigate numerous process options and concepts in detail, using only small quantities of the available resources.…”

“…The concept of combining microfluidic modules to test promising and novel process concepts is one of the key benefits of a microfluidic toolbox and can be referred to as plug-and-play microfluidics [20]. The concept of applying microfluidic modules in a plug-and-play manner for testing multi-step processes is not new, and creating a framework for such modularization has been emphasized a number of times in the past [98,99,[101][102][103]. However, applications of microfluidic modules in a plug-and-play manner for biocatalytic applications to date have only been attempted a few times [46,104,105].…”