(608e) Heterogeneous Catalysis in Continuous Flow: Plug and Play

We present the so-called “Plug & Play Reactor” - a versatile reactor that includes flexible modules for heating/cooling and mixing as well as an exchangeable reaction segment [1]. This reaction segment includes a HPLC column filled with catalyst particles. Thus, the applications of the Plug & Play reactor include gas/solid, liquid/solid as well as gas/liquid/solid reactions. Furthermore, it allows the monitoring of the reaction progress and the reaction parameters in- and online and can be easily implemented in existing processes.

The performance of this new reactor will be demonstrated with two model syntheses:

The first reaction involves the production of acetyl salicylic acid using a fixed bed of commercially ion-exchange particles as heterogeneous catalysts.

The second reaction is the cross-coupling of different aryl halides with boronic acids via the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction [2]. For these reactions heterogeneous Pd-catalysts developed by us [3, 4] are used. The obtained products are important compounds for pharmaceutical products or liquid crystals.

For both reactions the transfer of the batch process to the continuous application, the influence of the reaction parameters as well as the leaching behaviour of the catalysts will be demonstrated.

The results of both applications show that the novel setups lead to increased reaction yields and selectivity as well as to an improved practicability of the processes. Thus, our novel reaction system is a very attractive alternative to existing batch processes.

[1] H. Gruber-Woelfler, G. J. Lichtenegger, H. Kitzler, K. Obermaier, J.G. Khinast, ACHEMA 2015, Frankfurt, Germany, [2] N. Miyaura, A. Suzuki, Chem. Rev. 95 (1995) 2457 [3] H. Gruber-Woelfler, P.F. Radaschitz, P.W. Feenstra, W. Haas, J.G. Khinast, J. Catal. 286 (2012) 30 [4] G.J. Lichtenegger, P.A. Deshpande, H. Gruber-Wölfler, J.G. Khinast, 47. Jahrestreffen Deutscher Katalytiker, Weimar, Germany (2014).