Flow chemistry is a growing enabling technique in modern chemistry. Thanks to its ability to perform reactions at high temperature, ease of working with gases or unstable intermediates, flow chemistry attracts a lot of interest for new chemical processes. Probably one of the best-known advantages of flow chemistry is the ability to safely run high pressure reactions with excellent temperature control and mass transfer, enabling the heating of reaction solutions over the solvents’ boiling point.
Transferring reactions from a flask in a lab fume hood to a pilot plant, is always a complex process with associated risk of failure. Will the reagents mix well? What will be the residence time distribution? How do you evenly heat or irradiate the reaction mixture? Can we control the exotherm? Will sampling be representative?
Continuous flow offers a path for scaling up processes with lower risk. Scale up in flow provides improved control of key parameters such as mixing, heating or irradiance. In addition to better control of reaction parameters, flow chemistry also offers a wide range of inline analytical techniques, easing process optimization and monitoring of reactions prior scaling up.
The aim of this presentation is to show different examples of scale up processes in flow. From photochemical processes, working with gases and slurries, to the scale up of APIs such as Remdesivir and Glucagon-like peptide-1. In this presentation Manuel will cover the technical aspects, advantages, and disadvantages, and how to choose the most suited flow approach.
