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At Creative Biolabs, well-designed microfluidic photochemical reactors can perform photochemical reactions with higher yields, better selectivity and fewer side reactions.

Why Choose Flow Photochemistry Chip?

Flow photochemistry was born in the lab-on-a-chip field for general organic synthesis. device miniaturization and continuous flow provide uniform illumination for photochemical reactions, which has greatly benefited the field of photochemistry.

Fig 1. Flow photochemistry will expand unlimited chemical possibilities. (Politano, et al., 2018)

For half a century, the most reliable equipment for organic photochemistry in the laboratory has generally been an immersion photoreactor and associated mercury vapor discharge lamp. With a huge impact on the field of chemical synthesis by flow chemistry and our well-trained development team, Creative Biolabs carefully designs the reactor system and completes the miniaturization of almost all common batch reactions for our clients. With our help, flow photochemistry will be a very attractive proposition, for it can theoretically overcome all the key problems of photochemistry in the laboratory environment. Compared with traditional immersion photoreactors, flow photochemical chips have the following obvious advantages:

• Uniform, efficient irradiation of small quantities of reactive liquids
• Precise control of heating and cooling processes
• Controllable UV exposure time and phase contact time via flow rate and reaction volume
• A single reactor can continuously process substrates from a few milligrams to a kilogram
• Concentrated photochemical intermediates to reduce the solvent footprint
• Easy product isolation
• Modern LED technology and the microfluidic nature provide unprecedented safety for the photochemical reaction process

Flow Photochemistry Applications

Flow photochemistry has proven adequate for more mainstream and widespread settings, with some of its most outstanding applications including cubane synthesis, caprolactam synthesis, cedrene synthesis, and caryophyllene synthesis. In-depth studies have proved that almost all intermittent reactions can be reproduced in flow photochemical elements as long as the system is carefully designed and precisely controlled.

Fig 2. Schematic of a typical flow photochemical reactor. (Knowles, et al., 2012)

• Photocycloaddition

Photocycloadditions performed in microfluidic systems are mainly [2+2] cycloadditions and asymmetric induction mediated by chiral auxiliaries, such as molecular reactions between vinyl esters and enones. Various works have shown that optimized experimental parameters lead to higher photon efficiency and faster reaction time/product output by flow photochemical system.

• Photocatalytic Reaction

The microchannel system has a larger surface-to-volume ratio, ensuring efficient irradiation of the entire reaction medium. The effective permanent/semi-permanent deposition of photocatalysts on the microreactor surface avoids the mixing of catalysts and reaction products. A series of high-purity organic compounds, including perchloroethylene, 4-chlorophenol, o-cresol, and methylene blue, have been efficiently produced by photocatalytic reactions on a microfluidic chip.

Fig 3. Photocatalytic flow photolysis process. (Rehm, et al., 2020)

• Other Reactions

As a novel field with unlimited potential, flow photochemistry has been extensively explored, and the reaction fields that have been initially developed are not limited to E/Z Isomerization Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions, photodecarboxylation reactions, cyanation, fluorination, aryl or trifluoromethylation.

Fig 4. A photocatalytic reactor usually consists of a mixing zone, a reaction zone and post-treatment zone. (Bottecchia, et al., 2016)

Our Services

Flow photochemistry provides an atomically efficient and attractive method for the synthesis of complex molecules. Creative Biolabs provides cutting-edge flow photochemical reaction chip design, development and processing services for all clients in the fields of chemical synthesis, biology and pharmacy. You will benefit from the multiple advantages of a gentle and defined flow photochemistry process. We will help you transfer your experiments from batch mode to continuous flow mode, Allowing you to easily, cleanly and risk-free carry out molecular synthesis with high structural complexity, or further explore the infinite possibilities beyond the normal photochemical range, so don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

References

1. Politano, F.; et al. Light on the horizon: Current research and future perspectives in flow photochemistry. Organic Process Research & Development. 2018, 8: 213.
2. Knowles, J.; et al. Flow photochemistry: Old light through new windows. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2012, 8: 2025-2052.
3. Rehm, T.H.; et al. Flow photochemistry as a tool in organic synthesis. Chemistry Europe. 2020, 26: 16952-16974.
4. Bottecchio, C.; et al. Applications of continuous-flow photochemistry in organic synthesis, material science, and water treatment. Chemical Reviews. 2016, 116(17): 10276-10341.

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.