The Coflore ACRs ability to process solid suspensions and slurries

We are pleased to share news of another new publication in the "Green Synthesis and Catalysis" journal describing collaborative work performed by researchers in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Fudan. One author is an AM Technology customer, Prof. Fener Chen.

The publication discusses the Coflore ACR and its unique ability to process more than just liquids and gases. It’s great to see one of our flow reactors being highlighted for its solid suspensions and slurries handling capabilities. You can read the full publication here. View the abstract of the paper below

Continuous flow asymmetric total synthesis of tetrahydroprotoberberine alkaloid

Abstract

''The total synthesis of natural products is constantly facing many challenges derived from the complexed chemical structures, the lengthy synthetic routes, the time-consuming workup procedures and the large environmental footprint. In the past two decades, performing chemical transformations in continuous flow using various types of microreactors and in-line auxiliary technologies have been demonstrated effectively in respects of enhanced reaction yield and selectivity, excellent reproducibility and easy scale-up, safe proceeding hazardous reaction. And the rapid synthesis of natural products, which has been enabled in continuous flow based upon the significant improvement of overall yield within a short residence time via processing intensification and systematic automation, is essential to furnish sufficient quantity for the bioactivity investigation of structural diversity modification, structure-activity relationship during drug discovery and the increasing consumption of medical treatment. In this review, the multi-step continuous flow synthesis of natural products is highlighted to provide a comprehensive recognization on the intrinsic merits of flow chemistry for organic chemists to purposefully develop the flow synthetic approaches of natural products in the future.''

Using continuous flow to perform chemical transformations

Organic synthesis is fraught with difficulties that arise from the complexity of the chemical structures involved. This tends to necessitate a synthetic process which incorporates several stepwise reactions. In batch manufacturing particularly, this can lead to significant efficiency losses and reductions in yield.

Using continuous flow to perform chemical transformations provides excellent yields and safe reliable synthetic routes which are amenable to scale-up. Section 2.4 of the article shows how the Coflore ACR flow reactor system was used to dramatically improve the synthesis of (+)-Dumetorine from (S)-2-(piperidin-2-yl)ethanol in a five-step continuous set up.

In addition to increasing the yield of final products from 1% to 29% (when compared to batch processing), the continuous flow set up also enabled highly efficient isolation of the required diastereoisomer and recovery/recycling of the PEG-Hoveyda catalyst.