Continuous flow synthesis now gets hotter!

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team May 15, 2008

Raising the reaction temperature achievable with the FlowSyn Continuous Flow Reactor has considerably widened the scope of reactions that can be performed, say manufacturers Uniqsis of Cambridge

Reactions can now be carried out at up to 260C and pressures up to 1000psi (~70 Bar).

High activation energy chemistries that might previously have required a catalyst or the use of a microwave reactor are now potential candidates for continuous flow synthesis, with its attendant benefits - better reproducibility and scalability and fewer problems with unstable intermediates or unexpected exotherms.

According to Chief Scientific Officer Dr Mark Ladlow, who has recently joined the Uniqsis team: "This opens up a new range of reactions that we can perform with FlowSyn.

We ran an aromatic substitution reaction (SNAr) that yielded only about 10% product at 175C and got over 90% yield at 250C.

Comparable results have been reported by Pfizer in the USA".

Other improvements include easier pump priming and refinements to the automated reaction control so that the user can control the amount of the pre and post-plug dispersion phases that are collected with their steady state reaction product.

The system can also be further customised to meet customers' specific requirements.

A growing collection of Application Notes published by Uniqsis describes some of the drug discovery chemistries to which FlowSyn has been applied since its introduction last year, including reaction scale-up and optimisation, and a comparison with batch microwave chemistries.

Based near Cambridge, UK, Uniqsis was formed in January 2007 by Asynt and Grant Instruments (Cambridge) to develop innovative microreaction technology products for customers in both the research and biopharmaceutical sector.

A consortium of expert engineers, supporting companies and scientists from the pharmaceutical industry has been assembled to provide in-depth scientific and technical expertise to the development of this exciting new technology.