Jonathan P. McMullen

Deciding Whether To Go with the Flow: Evaluating the Merits of Flow Reactors for Synthesis

The fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries are transforming how their products are manufactured, where economically favorable, from traditional batchwise processes to continuous flow. This evolution is impacting synthetic chemistry on all scales-from the laboratory to full production. This Review discusses the relative merits of batch and micro flow reactors for performing synthetic chemistry in the laboratory.

Integrated Microreactors for Reaction Automation: New Approaches to Reaction Development

Applications of microsystems (microreactors) in continuous-flow chemistry have expanded rapidly over the past two decades, with numerous reports of higher conversions and yields compared to conventional batch benchtop equipment. Synthesis applications are enhanced by chemical information gained from integrating microreactor components with sensors, actuators, and automated fluid handling. Moreover, miniaturized systems allow experiments on well-defined samples at conditions not easily accessed by conventional means, such as reactions at high pressure and temperatures. The wealth of synthesis information that could potentially be acquired through use of microreactors integrated with physical sensors and analytical chemistry techniques for online reaction monitoring has not yet been well explored. The increased efficiency resulting from use of continuous-flow microreactor platforms to automate reaction screening and optimization encourages a shift from current batchwise chemical reaction development to this new approach. We review advances in this new area and provide application examples of online monitoring and automation.

Palladium-catalyzed amination reactions in flow: overcoming the challenges of clogging via acoustic irradiation

A continuous-flow palladium-catalyzed amination reaction was made possible through efficient handling of solids via acoustic irradiation. Various diarylamines were obtained with reaction times ranging from 20 s to 10 min.

Development of an Automated Microfluidic Reaction Platform for Multidimensional Screening: Reaction Discovery Employing Bicyclo[3.2.1]octanoid Scaffolds

An automated, silicon-based microreactor system has been developed for rapid, low-volume, multidimensional reaction screening. Use of the microfluidic platform to identify transformations of densely functionalized bicyclo[3.2.1]octanoid scaffolds will be described.