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Updated: Nov 15, 2025

Continuous Flow Chemistry: Reaction of Diphenyldiazomethane with p-Nitrobenzoic Acid
Published on: November 15, 2017
Continuous flow as an enabling technology: a fast and versatile entry to functionalized glyoxal derivatives
Fabio Lima1, Mark Meisenbach, Berthold Schenkel
1Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. fabio.lima@novartis.com.
Abstract:
We herein report two complementary strategies employing organolithium chemistry for the synthesis of glyoxal derivatives. Micro-mixer technology allows for the generation of unstable organometallic intermediates and their instantaneous in-line quenching with esters as electrophiles. Selective mono-addition was observed via putative stabilized tetrahedral intermediates. Advantages offered by flow chemistry technologies facilitate direct and efficient access to masked 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds while mitigating undesired by-product formation. These two approaches enable the production of advanced and valuable synthetic building blocks for heterocyclic chemistry with throughputs of grams per minute.
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