Continuous flow mechanochemistry: reactive extrusion as an enabling technology in organic synthesis

Area of Science:

• Sustainable organic synthesis
• Mechanochemistry
• Green chemistry

Background:

• Mechanochemistry is a key sustainable synthesis approach, minimizing solvent use.
• Ball-milling has advanced solvent-free reactions but faces scale-up challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the transition from batch-mode mechanochemistry to continuous flow processes.
• To highlight reactive extrusion using twin-screw extrusion as a scalable flow method.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on mechanochemistry and reactive extrusion.
• Analysis of batch-to-flow translation in organic synthesis.
• Focus on twin-screw extrusion for continuous mechanochemical processing.

Main Results:

• Reactive extrusion offers a viable alternative to batch-mode ball-milling for scale-up.
• Continuous flow mechanochemistry via twin-screw extrusion demonstrates significant potential.
• Successful translation from batch to flow processes is achievable.

Conclusions:

• Continuous flow mechanochemistry, particularly using twin-screw extrusion, addresses scale-up limitations.
• Reactive extrusion represents a promising scalable technology for sustainable organic synthesis.
• Further development in flow mechanochemistry is crucial for industrial applications.