The application of flow-chemistry in organic synthesis: from microwave-assisted micro-flow chemistry to photo(flow)approaches

Continuous flow reactors (or microreactor technology) form part of a rapidly emerging research area, which has the opportunity to change the way synthetic chemistry is performed, within research and development, as well as in large-scale manufacturing. Compared to stirred batch reactors, flow reactors have significant processing advantages; including improved thermal management, better mixing, and the application of extreme reaction conditions. This PhD research project will focus on two major directions: a) exploring the entire design space available for advanced microwave-based thermal control systems on the microscale, to enable a new scalable generation of flow devices that can generate with the high throughput in a fast and energy-efficient manner large chemical compounds libraries; b) to develop a portfolio of different continuous-flow processes mainly comprising various C-C and C-N bond-forming reactions under photocatalytic conditions.