Abstract

Applications of Continuous Flow Chemistry Systems for Organic Synthesis

Manuel Nuño, Research Scientist, Vapourtec Ltd.

Terpenes are low cost, natural products which can be modified into more added value products when a ketone or hydroperoxide group is introduced. Here we report a green approach to perform such C-H functionalisations. Vapourtec has recently developed the Ion Electrochemical Reactor, which takes advantage of the extremely large surface-to-volume ratios that a flow microreactor provides to make selective electrochemical oxidation of terpenes. The applications of electrochemistry in flow will be discussed, showing also the examples of working with a divided cell design. Singlet oxygen is a powerful reagent in organic synthesis, and its generation in a continuous flow photochemical reactor is safer than in traditional batch routes. With the use of the newly developed 420 nm UV High Power LED, we report a high throughput ene like reactions of singlet oxygen with citronellol. The final part of the talk will focus on solid-phase peptide synthesis in flow. Although SPPS is a well-established technique, the lack of live inline data can lead to several problems, such as an incomplete peptide and waste of reagents. By recording the volume change in a variable bed flow reactor and, combined with an inline UV detector, Vapourtec’s team was able to evaluate difficult couplings and develop optimised conditions.