Easier Optimisation and Scale-up with New Flow Reactor

Easier scale-up without re-optimisation using a new micro-reactor is described in a new Applications Note from Uniqsis Ltd of Cambridge. A FlowSyn™ Continuous Flow Reactor equipped with Exchangeable Micro Reactor Technology, or EMRT, was used to optimise a SN_Ar reaction, followed by immediate scale-up with no need for additional optimisation.

EMRT employs a compact, coiled reactor design (patent pending) with excellent controllability that makes it possible to closely duplicate reaction conditions in different reaction volumes. Temperatures, pressures and flows can be accurately and independently controlled, so reaction parameters can be easily adjusted for optimisation. In this case, the reaction was conducted at fixed pressure and flow rate over a range of temperatures from 40°C to 160°C. Once the optimum temperature was established, an 8-fold scale up was achieved without further experimentation by simply changing to a larger coil reactor and proportionally adjusting the flow rate to obtain an equivalent reaction time.

Depending on the reactor material used, temperatures and pressures up to 200ºC and 50 bar can be employed. Uniqsis CEO Martyn Fordham said: “EMRT allows reactions to be run under microwave-like conditions in a flow reactor, but under tighter control, so optimisation and scale-up become much more straightforward.”

The FlowSyn Continuous Flow Reactor claims to be the first commercial system to fully integrate all the essential elements for continuous flow chemistry into a single, easy to use package. FlowSyn is simple to set up and operate and offers safe, unattended operation for tasks such as synthesis, reaction optimisation and scale up experiments, in quantities from milligrams to hundreds of grams.