The Continuous-Flow Synthesis of Ibuprofen

摘要

Organic synthesis is a powerful enterprise that continues to develop more selective and efficient chemical methods and synthetic routes. To synthesize complex molecules, whether in academic laboratories or industrial manufacturing, reactions are often performed iteratively in batch reactors. Although these stepwise methods are effective, they are also very wasteful. The pharmaceuticalindustry, for example, produces 25-100 kg of waste for every kilogram of a complex molecule synthesized. Though chemists are constantly striving to devise more efficient syntheses, recent reminders of a resource-limited world underscore the need for more sustainable methods and technologies to synthesize molecules of importance. The application of new technologies, such as microreactors, to organic synthesis can be used to achieve this goal.