The fundamental advantages and potential benefits of flow microreactor technology include extremely large surface-to-volume ratios, precise control over temperature and residence time, extremely fast molecular diffusion, and increased safety during reactive processes. These advantages and benefits can be applied to a wide range of electrosynthetic techniques, and so the integration of flow microreactors with electrosynthesis has received significant research interest from both academia and industry. This review presents an up-to-date overview of electrosynthetic processes in continuous-flow microreactors. In addition, the advantages of continuous-flow electrochemistry are discussed, along with a thorough comparison of microreactor-based processes and conventional batch reaction systems.

The irreversible capacity loss that occurs during the first cycle in an Li ion battery was studied using Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance, secondary ion mass spectrometer, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and plasma spectrometer. The irreversible capacity loss was related to both the solvent decomposition and the reaction of Li with active sites in the bulk of the carbon electrode. Li remaining in the discharged electrode not only exists on the surface of the carbon but also in its bulk. The Li concentration on the surface of the carbon is higher than that in the bulk. The binding energy of Li remaining in the bulk of the discharged carbon electrode is higher by -2.5 eV than that of metallic lithium (52.5 eV) and lower by ~0.5 eV than that of Li remaining on the surface of the discharged electrode.Recently, lithium ion rechargeable batteries (LIBs) using carbon as an anode material have attracted a great deal of world wide attention. This is because, compared with lithium metal rechargeable batteries, they are safer, and they have a higher energy density as well as a higher voltage than nickel-metal hydride reehargeable batteries. In particular, it was reported that when disordered carbon is used as an anode material~ these materials store lithium with capacities surpassing the theoretical capacity of a graphite anode. 1-4 These results have further stimulated the development of LIBs. Recently, it has been commercialized in Japan. ~ Unfortunately, some problems continue to hinder their development. 6 One problem is that an irreversible capacity loss is observed during the first cycle because of side reactions, namely, Li charged into the carbon electrode cannot be discharged from the carbon electrode. It is well known that the lithium supply in LIB comes from the cathode when the cell is manufactured. To compensate for the loss of lithium which is irreversibly consumed, an excess of cathode material must be used. As a result, the energy density of the cell decreases and the cost of the cell increases.Reducing the irreversible capacity loss is important for LIB development. First, there is a need to understand how the lithium is lost. Studies on irreversible capacity loss have been reported. 7-1~ They suggest that the irreversible capacity loss is solely caused by the reduction of solvent (such as propylene carbonate, PC) on the surface of the carbon electrode to form Li~CQ. 7,10 Sleigh has conjectured that the loss is due not only to the incorporation of decomposed solvent, but also is related to the bulk carbon mater~al. However, no detailed description was given. 11The goal of this work is to investigate irreversible capacity loss and the properties of the Li remaining in the discharged carbon electrode by using electrochemical measurements and various analytical techniques such as Fourier transfo~zn infrared attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and plasma spectrometer. ExperimentalRibbonlike carbon films...

Many apparently achiral organic molecules on Earth may be chiral because of random substitution of the 1.11% naturally abundant 13C for 12C in an enantiotopic moiety within the structure. However, chirality from this source is experimentally difficult to discern because of the very small difference between 13C and 12C. We have demonstrated that this small difference can be amplified to an easily seen experimental outcome using asymmetric autocatalysis. In the reaction between pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde and diisopropylzinc, addition of chiral molecules in large enantiomeric excess that are, however, chiral only by virtue of isotope substitution causes a slight enantiomeric excess in the zinc alkoxide of the produced pyrimidyl alkanol. Asymmetric autocatalysis then leads to pyrimidyl alcohol with a large enantiomeric excess. The sense of enantiomeric excess of the product alcohol varies consistently with the sense of the excess enantiomer of the carbon isotopically chiral compound.

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