Lee Tsz Chun, Tong Yi, Fu Wai Chung
Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Ave, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Chem Asian J. 2023 Nov 2;18(21):e202300723. doi: 10.1002/asia.202300723. Epub 2023 Sep 27.
Fluorination reactions are important in constructing organofluorine motifs, which contribute to favorable biological properties in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. However, fluorination reagents and reactions are associated with various problems, such as their hazardous nature, high exothermicity, and poor selectivity and scalability. Continuous flow has emerged as a transformative technology to provide many advantages relative to batch syntheses. This review article summarizes recent continuous flow techniques that address the limitations and challenges of fluorination reactions. Approaches based on different flow techniques are discussed, including gas-liquid reactions, packed-bed reactors, in-line purifications, streamlined multistep synthesis, large-scale reactions well as flow photoredox- and electrocatalysis.
