(164a) Solid-Supported Photoredox Catalysis for Continuous Flow Reactors

Continuous flow reactors have significant benefits over batch reactors. Flow reactors provide increased surface area to volume ratios, which allows for increased ability for cooling as well as smaller volumes of reaction mediums. For chemical reactions that are light-mediated, batch reactors limit the amount of light that is delivered to the center of the reaction medium because the light must travel through longer distances through the reactor wall and liquid. We describe a design for a continuous flow reactor that can hold solid-supported photocatalysts. This allows for the effective delivery of light to the catalysts because the reactor size is much smaller, allowing us to mitigate Beer-Lambert limitations experienced in batch reactors. The solid supports allow for the catalysts to remain inside the reactor, eliminating catalyst waste and the need to continuously supply catalysts to the reaction. A feature of the solid-supports we describe is their transparency. This allows for light to pass through more than one support pellet in the reactor and could help improve the ability to scale up continuous flow reactors. Our work includes small molecule as well as polymerization reactions.