A Laser Driven Flow Chemistry Platform for Scaling Photochemical Reactions with Visible Light

• Kaid C. Harper
• Eric G. Moschetta
• Shailendra V. Bordawekar
• Steven J. Wittenberger

• Process Research and Development, AbbVie Inc., 1 North Waukegan Road, North Chicago, Illinois 60064, United States

Visible-light-promoted organic reactions can offer increased reactivity and selectivity via unique reaction pathways to address a multitude of practical synthetic problems, yet few practical solutions exist to employ these reactions for multikilogram production. We have developed a simple and versatile continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) equipped with a high-intensity laser to drive photochemical reactions at unprecedented rates in continuous flow, achieving kg/day throughput using a 100 mL reactor. Our approach to flow reactor design uses the Beer–Lambert law as a guideline to optimize catalyst concentration and reactor depth for maximum throughput. This laser CSTR platform coupled with the rationale for design can be applied to a breadth of photochemical reactions.

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