Scaling up in flow chemistry

Flow chemistry systems can not only perform reactions on a small scale for optimization but once the preferred conditions are known, the flow rate can be increased to produce hundreds of grams of product.

Due to reactor volumes of up to 16 mL and flow rates of 10 mL/min per input, reaction scales in the order of liters can be synthesized overnight. For example, two pumps, each at 10 mL/min will produce 28.8 Litres in a day.

The following nucleophilic aromatic substitution was performed using a Syrris flow chemistry system. The reaction was performed at 150ºC despite the atmospheric boiling point of the solvent being 100ºC using pressurization and, therefore, the superheating capability.