Towards dial-a-molecule by integrating continuous flow, analytics and self-optimisation

Abstract

The employment of continuous-flow platforms for synthetic chemistry is becoming increasingly popular in research and industrial environments. Integrating analytics in-line enables obtaining a large amount of information in real-time about the reaction progress, catalytic activity and stability, etc. Furthermore, it is possible to influence the reaction progress and selectivity via manual or automated feedback optimisation, thus constituting a dial-a-molecule approach employing digital synthesis. This contribution gives an overview of the most significant contributions in the field to date.

Advanced reactor engineering with 3D printing for the continuous-flow synthesis of silver nanoparticles

“…4 Asides the numerous benefits of heat transfer, mixing and kinetics, continuous flow reactors allow to characterise the product stream in-line with no disruption of the flow using spectroscopic techniques, thus allowing the real time monitoring, feedback and development of self-optimisation techniques. 5,6 Intensified reactors have found an ever increasing range of applications in synthetic chemistry from discovery 7,8 to the processing of high added value reactions including pharmaceuticals, 9 nanostructured 10 and advanced molecular materials. 3,11 In the microfluidic scale, the flow regime is laminar.…”

Hochdurchsatzstrategien zur Entdeckung und Optimierung katalytischer Reaktionen

“…Es werden Fallbeispiele aus den vergangenen fünf Jahren in diesem rasant wachsenden Bereich vorgestellt, [7] mit einem Schwerpunkt auf der Reaktionsplanung und -durchführung sowie der Dateninterpretation. Füru mfassendere Diskussionen zu den hier erçrterten Schlüsselgebieten sei der Leser auf spezialisiertere Übersichtsartikel verwiesen, die sich mit dem Screening im Mikromaßstab, [9] der Durchflussautomatisierung, [10] der statistischen Datenanalyse [11] und dem maschinellen Lernen im Rahmen der Chemie [12] befassen. Während enorme Fortschritte bei der Umsetzung markierter Substrate,U ltrahochdurchsatztests und optischen Analysemethoden erreicht worden sind, [8] setzen die hier diskutierten Arbeiten in erster Linie auf die traditionellen Prozesse zur Entwicklung von Reaktionen mit gängigen Substraten und Chromatographieverfahren.…”

Divergent Multistep Continuous Synthetic Transformations of Allylic Alcohol Enabled by Catalysts Immobilized in Ionic Liquid Phases.

“…In this regard, the development of multicatalytic platforms that allow sequential and controllable processes is highly desirable. This can lead to complex syntheses through reduced external intervention and minimal environmental impact . These platforms facilitate: 1) greater reproducibility of reactions; 2) easy scaling, which facilitates the direct transfer of laboratory results to production; 3) reduction in environmental impact; 4) improved safety; 5) synthesis of new high‐value chemical entities; and 6) intensification of the process.…”

“…This can lead to complex synthesest hrough reduced external intervention and minimal environmental impact. [12][13][14][15][16] These platforms facili-tate:1 )greater reproducibility of reactions;2 )easys caling, which facilitates the direct transfer of laboratory resultst op roduction; 3) reduction in environmental impact;4 )improved safety;5 )synthesis of new high-value chemical entities; and 6) intensificationo ft he process. Therefore, smaller-size systems can be used, offering cost reduction and higher productivity.…”