Multijet Oscillating Disc Millireactor: A Novel Approach for Continuous Flow Organic Synthesis

This report discloses proof of concept and experimental results from a project involving design, development, and investigation of a novel approach for flow chemistry and the realization of equipment operating according to this new approach. This device is named multijet oscillating disk (MJOD) reactor and is dedicated to continuous flow organic synthesis in milliscale. Characteristics such as the importance of the multijet disk unit, with or without oscillating, and possible limitations, such as back-mixing, have been explored, and the flow system is benchmarked with other technologies. Several well-known reactions and syntheses usefully both in the chemical industry as well as in the research laboratory have been conducted using the new system, which have been benchmarked with batch- and microreactor protocols. In particular the Haloform reaction, the Nef reaction, nucleophilic aromatic substitution, the Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis, sodium borohydride reduction, O-allylation, the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction, the Hofmann rearrangement and N-acylation were performed during the study of the MJOD reactor performance. Our investigations revealed that the MJOD millireactor system can produce various organic compounds at a high rate concomitant with an excellent selectivity. A Hofmann rearrangement was conducted, a reaction that involves handling of a slurry of the substrate. This reaction was successfully conducted, achieving a quantitative conversion into the target molecule.