Flow Chemistry Today: Towards Multistep (Enzymatic) Processes

About the Speaker
Floris Rutjes is full professor in organic synthesis at Radboud University Nijmegen. His research interests comprise the application of catalysis in the synthesis of biologically relevant molecules, and synthesis in microreactors. He has received several awards including the Gold Medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (KNCV, 2002) and the AstraZeneca award for research in organic chemistry (2003). He is co-founder of the companies Chiralix and FutureChemistry, and in 2008 received the award of ‘Most entrepreneurial scientist of the Netherlands 2008’. Currently, he is also Director of the Educational Institute for Molecular Sciences at Radboud University Nijmegen.Abstract
Microreactor flow technology allows optimal control over reaction conditions due to the small internal dimensions, leading to more efficient, economical and safer chemistry. In the recent past, we have developed a plug-and-play microreactor platform that can be routinely used for reaction optimization including oxidation reactions, formation of organic azides, and (de)protection steps. We have also shown that by slightly scaling up the internal dimensions, followed by numbering out the reactors, the optimized reaction can be readily scaled up as well, which offers a fast and therefore valuable trajectory for product development and manufacturing. In contrast to performing single steps in a microreactor, we increasingly focus on integrating additional unit operations in a single flow system, including extraction (workup) and subsequent reaction steps to create multistep processes. Several examples will be highlighted, such as enzymatic cascades, or reactions in which enzymes are combined with conventional reaction steps.