Flow Chemistry
Continuous flow synthesis: from reaction screening to process scale-up with precise parameter control.
Batch (standard) reactors cap how fast you can screen reaction conditions: mixing is uneven, heat transfer is poor, and scale-up often means re-optimizing the whole process. For exothermic, fast and hazardous reactions, running in bulk adds safety risk and product-quality variability.
The workstation with flow microreactor chips delivers continuous synthesis with millisecond mixing, precise temperature control and defined residence time. In a single day one operator can screen several dozen reaction conditions, consuming milligrams of reagent instead of grams. Protocols validated at lab scale transfer to pilot and production without re-optimization.
For chemical companies, flow synthesis protocols were developed for various substances with target molecular weight and narrow distribution. The target molecular weight was reached with consistent quality, and condition screening ran roughly tens of times faster than in bulk.