The Swern-Moffatt oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones is a useful reaction in organic chemistry, as it provides a selective pathway towards aldehydes and ketones. This reaction is difficult to control due to its fast reaction rate and exothermic character, and is therefore traditionally performed at -78°C. At elevated temperatures, side product formation becomes dominant, except when very short reaction times are used. These short reaction times can be perfectly controlled in a continuous flow microreactor, and a minimum of 300 ms was obtained using the short quench microreactor.

Swern-Moffatt oxidation of model substrates
(R = H, CH3)

To avoid the use of low temperatures and controlled reagent addition, FutureChemistry has translated this reaction from a batch process to a continuous flow process. FutureChemistry’s typical three-tier approach led to a protocol which can be adapted to any viable alcohol substrate:

       1) Translation of batch process to continuous flow process:
           a) Stock solutions approach, yielding a homogeneous reaction mixture.
           b) Quenching solution to follow the reaction in time.
           c) Flow markers approach to accurately assess reaction parameters.
      2) Automated reaction optimisation.
      3) Out scaling to preparative synthesis

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