Pair your accounts.

Export articles to Mendeley

Get article recommendations from ACS based on references in your Mendeley library.

Pair your accounts.

Export articles to Mendeley

Get article recommendations from ACS based on references in your Mendeley library.

You’ve supercharged your research process with ACS and Mendeley!

STEP 1:
Click to create an ACS ID

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

MENDELEY PAIRING EXPIRED
Your Mendeley pairing has expired. Please reconnect
ACS Publications. Most Trusted. Most Cited. Most Read
Scaling-up Electroorganic Synthesis Using a Spinning Electrode Electrochemical Reactor in Batch and Flow Mode
My Activity

Figure 1Loading Img
  • Open Access
Article

Scaling-up Electroorganic Synthesis Using a Spinning Electrode Electrochemical Reactor in Batch and Flow Mode
Click to copy article linkArticle link copied!

  • Nikola Petrović
    Nikola Petrović
    Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, Austria
    Center for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
  • Bhanwar K. Malviya
    Bhanwar K. Malviya
    Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, Austria
    Center for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
  • C. Oliver Kappe*
    C. Oliver Kappe
    Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, Austria
    Center for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
    *E-mail: [email protected]
  • David Cantillo*
    David Cantillo
    Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, Austria
    Center for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
    *E-mail: [email protected]
Open PDFSupporting Information (1)

Organic Process Research & Development

Cite this: Org. Process Res. Dev. 2023, 27, 11, 2072–2081
Click to copy citationCitation copied!
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00255
Published October 11, 2023

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under

CC-BY 4.0 .

Abstract

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

Technology for the rapid scale-up of synthetic organic electrochemistry from milligrams to multigrams or multi-100 g quantities is highly desirable. Traditional parallel plate flow electrolysis cells can produce large quantities of material, but transfer from batch to this flow technology requires reoptimization of the reaction conditions and fully homogeneous reaction mixtures. Moreover, single-pass processing is often difficult to accomplish due to gas generation and the low flow rates typically used in continuous mode. Herein we present a novel reactor design, based on a rotating cylinder electrode concept, that enables seamless scale up from small scale batch experimentation to gram and even multikilogram per day quantities. The device can operate in batch and flow mode, and it is able to easily process slurries without clogging of the system or fouling of the electrodes. Continuous operation is also demonstrated using three reactors in series that act as a continuous stirred electrochemical reactor cascade, providing kilogram per day productivities in a single pass.

This publication is licensed under

CC-BY 4.0 .
  • cc licence
  • by licence
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

Introduction

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

The recent revival of electrochemical synthesis as a safe and sustainable strategy for the preparation organic compounds (1,2) has sparked significant interest in the scale up of this technology. Small scale experimentation and early synthetic methodology development is typically carried out using batch type cells. (3) In particular, traditional “beaker cells” and H-cells are used for undivided and divided operation, respectively. Batch cells are easy to set up and convenient for the preparation of small amounts of material. However, they are unable to produce large amounts of compounds and often fail to provide quantities beyond tens of grams. (4) The main drawback of batch cells in terms of scalability is their relatively low electrode surface area to reactor volume ratio (A/V). More importantly, A/V rapidly decreases as the size of the reactor increases during a scale up attempt. As the efficiency of an electrolytic process is closely related to the A/V of the cell, the efficiency of batch cells consequently decreases with increasing size. Slow mass transfer is also often invoked as a drawback of batch cells, although this factor strongly depends on the mixing technology utilized. (5)
The technology for the scale up of electrochemical processes has been well established for many decades. (6) It relies upon the use of the so-called parallel plate flow cells. Parallel plate reactors consist of flat (plate shaped) electrodes, which are arranged in parallel to each other. The gap between the electrodes is typically small (often <1 mm), which provides very high A/V values. (4−7) For example, for a 1 mm interelectrode gap, A/V = 10, while most low volume batch cells feature A/V < 1. Electrolysis in parallel plate reactors is then carried out by flowing the reaction mixture through the gap between the electrodes, while the desired current density is applied using a suitable power supply. Importantly, parallel plate reactors are readily scalable. The dimensions of the electrodes can be enlarged essentially without limits, and the A/V value remains unchanged through the scale up as long as the interelectrode gap is kept constant. (8) In addition to sizing up the electrodes, scale up can be also readily achieved by stacking several electrode pairs, in a numbering up strategy. (6)
Although parallel plate flow electrolysis cells are well established for the scale up of electrochemical processes, they present several drawbacks (Figure 1a): (1) as in many flow-based reactor systems, the presence of solids in the reaction mixture should be avoided to prevent clogging (9) of the narrow channels of the cell. Prevention of solids in a reaction mixture may undermine the sustainability of the process as diluted conditions could be needed to fully dissolve solid materials. Moreover, the selection of solvents for processing a reaction in a parallel plate cell must consider the solubility of the reagents to generate homogeneous conditions, instead of being solely based on other advantages such as cost, greenness, and efficiency. (2) Many electrochemical reactions release gases at the counter electrode. (10) For example, most anodic oxidation reactions release hydrogen gas at the cathode as a byproduct from the reduction of a proton source. Gas evolution is a significant issue during single pass processing, (7) as large volumes of gas compared to the liquid phase are generated, thus reducing the effective reactor volume and available electrode surface area in contact with the reaction mixture. (3) The mass transfer efficiency depends on the flow rate utilized during processing (in particular, it depends on the flow velocity of the liquid phase with respect to the electrode surface). For this reason, processing of reaction mixtures in recirculation mode (semibatch) benefits from high flow rates. (11) However, single-pass processing (continuous mode) requires relatively low rates to achieve high conversion before the reaction mixture exits the reactor, which significantly undermines the mass transport properties of the cell.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Comparison of the scale-up of electrochemical processes in parallel plate flow cells vs the spinning electrode reactor presented herein.

We envisaged that an electrochemical reactor concept that combines flow processing capabilities with a spinning cylinder electrode design should provide a solution to the aforementioned drawbacks of parallel plate reactors. In particular, an assembly of two concentrical cylindrical electrodes (anode and cathode) in which the central working electrode spins around its axis should provide excellent mixing and thus mass transport, even at very low flow rates, while maintaining a relatively narrow interelectrode gap. (12,13) The efficient mixing attained with the system should also enable working with solid suspensions without the risk of clogging the system or the accumulation of particles. Moreover, the fact that the central electrode is spinning should provoke rapid detachment of any gas bubbles from the surface of the electrodes, facilitating their displacement to the reactor headspace and effectively overcoming the issues of gas evolution during electrolysis.
Herein, we present the design, construction, characterization, and testing of an electrochemical reactor based on the aforementioned spinning concentrical cylindrical electrode concept. The reactor system features an interelectrode gap of 5 mm, analogous to common commercially available small scale undivided cells, (14) which permits the translation of milligram scale batch experiments to multigram quantities without the need for reoptimization of the reaction conditions. The cell was shown to readily handle slurries. Importantly, the scalability of the electrolysis cell has been demonstrated by constructing 3 units of different size, featuring working electrode surfaces of 94 cm2, 475 cm2, and 2466 cm2. The 3 units performed identically for a model electrochemical organic transformation. The spinning electrode reactor versatility permits operation under batch conditions as well as flow mode, both as a semibatch type setup with electrolyte recirculation and as a single-pass continuous flow reactor using a reactor cascade, enabling multi-100-g preparations and productivities of several kilograms per day.

Results and Discussion

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

Reactor Design and Construction

The electrochemical reactor is based on a relatively simple assembly consisting of a pipe-shaped counter electrode and a cylindrical working electrode, which are positioned concentrically. The outer electrode is static and, once attached to a circular-based plate made of polyether ether ketone (PEEK), forms the reactor vessel (Figure 2). The cylindrical working electrode is located in the center of the reactor vessel with a mixer attached to the bottom. The inner working electrode is attached to the reactor cap via an electrically conducting shaft, which in turn is connected to a slip ring located within the cap, thus enabling spinning of the electrode during electrolysis. The mixer spins with the electrode, providing vigorous mixing of the reaction mixture.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Computer generated images of the reactor components and assembly.

During the course of this work, we designed and manufactured reactors of three different sizes to demonstrate the scalability of the technology. The cells are denominated Reactor S, Reactor M, and Reactor L (Figure 3). The smallest cell (Reactor S) has a working electrode surface area of 94 cm2 and a volume of 52 mL. The medium-size (Reactor M) and large-size (Reactor L) cells are designed with consecutive 5-fold increases in surface electrode area, with a 25-fold scale-up factor between Reactor S and Reactor L. Thus, the medium-size reactor features an electrode surface area of 475 cm2 and the large size reactor 2466 cm2. The interelectrode gap is 5 mm in all reactors. Importantly, this gap distance was selected to match that of the small scale IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 vials, which enables reproducible results between the two types of reactors even with differences in scale of 3 orders of magnitude. The fact that the interelectrode gap is kept constant in all reactors, combined with the cylindrical geometry of the design, results in increasing A/V values as the reactor becomes larger, which further ensures a smooth scale-up process (Figure 3). The reason for this increase in A/V is that, as the electrode diameter becomes larger, the surface resembles more an ideal planar geometry. Reactors M and L feature a relatively large electrode surface area, which was expected to enable electrolysis under comparatively high currents. To avoid heating of the reactors, they were equipped with a cooling jacket, which was installed in direct contact with the cathode. This feature ensured excellent heat transfer and facile temperature control during electrolysis. The small reactor (Reactor S) was not equipped with a cooling jacket, as its small size and use under lower current permitted release of any heat generated without the need for an external coolant.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Simplified view of the electrode dimension of the 3 electrochemical reactors assembled in this work and photograph of the units.

Most of the experiments described in the following sections were carried out on Reactor M, as the middle-size reactor ensured robust and rapid experimentation with adequate amounts of material. Proof-of-concept of scale-down to Reactor S and scale-up to Reactor L using as a model the electrolysis of a slurry was then demonstrated. All model reactions tested herein used impervious graphite (GAB GPX) as the anode material and 316 stainless steel as the cathode.
The reactor features several fluidic connections that enable the flow processing of reaction mixtures (Figure 4). Connectors for 5/16–24 fittings suitable for 3/16-in. outer diameter tubing were selected to ensure that tubing with sufficient inner diameter to avoid clogging could be installed. One of the connectors is located in the bottom of the reactor, which can serve as input as well as an output to empty the reactor. Three additional ports, located on the reactor cap, can be used as inlet/outlet, to introduce temperature probes or other sensors, as well as to flush the reactor headspace with an inert gas (this is important to dilute any hydrogen generated during anodic oxidations).

Figure 4

Figure 4. Fluidic and electrical connections in the spinning electrode cell.

Flow operation can be readily carried out using the fluidic fitting connectors available, preferentially using the bottom of the reactor for the inlet and the top as outlet. Batch operation can be performed by simply filling the bottom assembly (Figure 2) with the reaction mixture (no more than 250 mL should be added to avoid overflowing of the reactor) and then capping the cell. Alternatively, reaction mixtures can be pumped into the reactor using the ports available and pumped out using the bottom port. All experiments carried out in this work were performed using the latter approach.

Reactor Characterization

Before testing the system with model reactions, the performance of the spinning electrode cell was first evaluated to ascertain its expected behavior during electrolysis in batch and flow mode. As mentioned in the introduction, an advantage of this system with respect to classical parallel plate reactors is that high flow rates are not needed to deliver high mass transfer, as this is provided by the movement of the electrode with respect to the liquid phase instead. This feature was demonstrated by determining the mass transfer of the electrochemical reactor using the limiting current method (15) under different spinning speeds using the middle-size Reactor M (Figure 5) equipped with an impervious graphite anode. For this purpose, we employed a known methodology (16) which consists of electrolyzing an aqueous solution containing K3[Fe(CN)6] and K4[Fe(CN)6]. As the working electrode is the anode in this case, the concentration of the reduced species is lower so that the current limitation arises from the electrode of interest. The cell voltage is scanned linearly from 0 to 3 V in a 2 min interval, while the resulting current is monitored. The limiting current value is identified as a “plateau” in the I vs V graph. In our experiments, a stop flow strategy was used. Thus, the reactor was filled with 200 mL of solution for each experiment (Figure 5a). Once the measurement was collected under the desired spinning speed, the reactor was emptied and filled with a fresh solution.

Figure 5

Figure 5. (a) Schematic view of the setup used to determine the mass transfer of the system under different electrode spinning speeds and (b) mass transfer (km) values obtained in cm/s. Details on the calculation of km from the limiting current experiments are collected in the Supporting Information.

As expected, excellent mass transfer values were obtained, even considering that the electrolyte did not flow during the measurements. Moreover, the limiting current values and thus mass transport increased with the spinning speed (Figure 5b). In principle, this trend means that, if a reaction suffers from lack of selectivity or low current efficiency due to mass transfer limitations, the outcome can be improved by augmenting the spinning speed of the electrode. Such a feature was not demonstrated during the course of this study, as all model reactions evaluated showed excellent selectivity at relatively low spinning speeds (vide infra).
We next turned our attention to the residence time distribution (RTD) of the reactor when it was used in flow mode. Given the good mixing provided by the spinning electrode and the mixer, it was expected that the behavior of the system would be that of a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). (17) In the case of electrochemical cells, they are typically termed continuous stirred tank electrochemical reactors (CSTER). (18) An aqueous solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP), in conjunction with an inline UV–vis spectrometer at the reactor output, was used for evaluation (Figure 6a). The solution was introduced into the system, which had been filled with water, at a flow rate of 50 mL/min. The working volume of the reactor was set to 200 mL by adjusting the height of the output tubing. Under these conditions, the ideal residence time should be 4 min. The RTD was obtained for two scenarios for comparison purposes: when the input of the reactor is located on top of the reactor (Figure 6b) and when it is located at the bottom (Figure 6c). The experiments were carried out using two different electrode spinning rates (50 and 300 rpm). The results revealed, as expected, that introducing the solution from the bottom of the reactor provides a much better RTD profile, with a mean residence time matching the expected value independently of the spinning rate (4.0 and 4.1 min for 50 and 300 rpm, respectively) (Figure 6c). When the solution was introduced through a top port of the reactor instead, poorer RTD profiles were obtained (Figure 6b). The shorter than expected mean residence time distribution (e.g., 3 min at 300 rpm) might be due to the high flow rate with which the solution is introduced into the reactor (50 mL/min), which pushes the entering solution to the bottom of the reactor, thus, exiting the reactor too early. As the spinning mixer is placed at the bottom of the reactor, this is not an issue when the bottom port is used, because the reaction solution is immediately mixed upon entering the cell. Thus, the bottom of the reactor was used as the input in all flow experiments described herein.

Figure 6

Figure 6. (a) Schematic view of the setup utilized for the evaluation of the residence time distribution in the spinning electrode reactor. KHP: potassium hydrogen phthalate. (b) E curve obtained when the reactor was fed from the top port and (c) from the bottom port. E(t) corresponds to the fraction of particles that stay in the reactor for a given time before exiting.

Reactor Performance and Operation in Flow Recirculation Mode

The performance of the reactor design for electrochemical organic transformations was first evaluated by using a model reaction under homogeneous conditions. In particular, the anodic methoxylation of N-formyl piperidine was used (Figure 7a), as this type of Shono oxidation (19) is often employed to test the performance of flow electrolyzers. (20) General reaction conditions such as substrate and supporting electrolyte concentration were first established using a small scale electrolyzer (IKA ElectraSyn 2.0) (see Table S1 for details). Then, the electrochemical process was transferred to the spinning electrode cell (Reactor M, 475 cm2 electrode surface area, impervious graphite anode, and steel cathode). The electrochemical reaction was initially attempted in batch mode using the reactor. The typical procedure for batch experimentation simply consisted of loading 200 mL of the reaction mixture solution into the reactor using one of the top ports, initiating the electrode spinning (300 rpm) and then turning on the power supply at the desired current. Electrolysis under constant current was carried out until the desired amount of charge (2.2 F/mol) had been passed. Importantly, during the electrolytic process nitrogen gas was constantly flushed through the headspace of the reactor. This measure is critical to dilute the hydrogen gas generated at the cathode for safety reasons. (21) When the electrolysis was completed, the power supply was turned off, and the reactor was emptied through the bottom port. The temperature of the reaction mixture could be readily controlled by simply circulating water through the cooling jacket.

Figure 7

Figure 7. (a) Electrochemical methoxylation of N-formyl piperidine (1) and (b) schematic view of the flow setup with the electrolyte recirculation operation used for the reaction.

Given the current density achieved during the preliminary batch experiments, it was expected that currents of at least 10 A could be applied on the reactor with a 450 cm2 working electrode surface area (20 mA/cm2 × 450 cm2). Indeed, a constant current at 10 A provided excellent conversion and selectivity toward the target methoxylated product 2 (Table 1, entry 1). The current was gradually increased in subsequent experiments to 40 A (84 mA/cm2) (Table 1, entries 2–4). Excellent conversion and selectivity were still achieved. A further increase to 50 A has a negative effect in the reaction selectivity (entry 5), due to the generation of the di- or trimethoxylated side-products.
Table 1. Optimization of the Current Used in the Electrochemical Oxidation of 1 in the Spinning Electrode Reactor in Batch Mode and Transfer to Flow Modea
entryOperation modecurrent [A]conversion [%]bselectivity [%]b
1batch1010095
2batch2010094
3batch309994
4batch409994
5batch509889
6flow-recirculation409795
a

Batch conditions: 22.6 g (0.2 mol) of 1 in 200 mL of MeOH with 0.1 M Et4NBF4, constant current, 300 rpm. Flow conditions: 113 g (1 mol) of 1 in 1 L of methanol with 0.1 M Et4NBF4, constant current, 300 rpm, 200 mL/min recirculation flow rate.

b

Determined by HPLC area percentage at 215 nm.

To demonstrate that the reactor can also be used in flow mode, an electrolyte recirculation setup was assembled and evaluated (Figure 7b). In this case, the reaction mixture (1 L volume containing 113 g of the starting material) was placed in a reservoir. The solution was pumped into the reactor from the bottom, and the outlet tubing from the reactor top was directed back to the reservoir. For better control of the headspace volume, the solution was pumped out of the cell using a second pump. Thus, the outlet tube was introduced into the reactor by using a top port to the depth matching the desired level of the liquid, and the output pump was operated at a slightly larger flow rate, keeping the liquid level and headspace volume constant. Once the reactor had been filled with solution and was already returning to the reservoir, electrolysis was initiated under optimal batch conditions (40 A, 2.2 F/mol). Gratifyingly, excellent conversion, selectivity, and current efficiency were also achieved in flow mode (entry 6), analogous to that attained in batch. Workup of the reaction mixture collected in the electrolyte reservoir provided 129 g (93%) of compound 2.
It should be emphasized that the reaction initially optimized in a small-scale cell (3 mL reaction volume) could be readily transferred to the larger reactor without the need for reoptimization of the reaction conditions, apart from process intensification via increase of the current density. Thus, this novel design enables easy and rapid scale-up of electrochemical transformations from milligram quantities to multi-100 g operation.

Continuous Operation Using a Reactor Cascade

Over the past few years, there has been a trend toward the development of single-pass flow electrolysis processes, which enables continuous processing of materials. (7,22) As mentioned above, the spinning electrode cell design behaves as a CSTER when a liquid stream is input from the reactor bottom and output from the top of part of the system. Thus, achieving high conversions in a single-pass reactor requires a cascade of reactors in series. Continuous operation involves matching the current applied to the cell to the flow rate of the reaction mixture and its concentration. To avoid excessively low flow rates, currents and thus current densities may need to be high compared to batch operation conditions. To assess potential issues derived from high current densities, we chose the anodic decarboxylative methoxylation of diphenyl acetic acid as a model reaction to test the reactor in continuous mode. This electrochemical transformation is prone to overoxidation of product 4 to benzophenone if excessive current density or amount of charge is applied. (23)
A set of initial batch reactions, first in a small-scale reactor (3 mL volume in a 5 mL IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 vial) and then in the spinning electrode system, established as an optimal set of reaction conditions: 0.5 M concentration of diphenylacetic acid 3, 0.05 M NaOMe, and a current density of ca. 35 mA/cm2 (see Table S2 and Table S3 in the Supporting Information). With these parameters in mind, and considering the working electrode surface area of Reactor M (475 cm2), we estimated that to be able to apply a relevant flow rate (20 to 25 mL/min) and achieve full conversion a series of three reactors was needed (Figure 8). Thus, the continuous flow setup consisted of a stock solution of 3 (0.5 M in MeOH with 0.05 M NaOMe as a base), which was pumped into the first reactor through its bottom inlet using a peristaltic pump. The outlet of the reactor was connected to the second reactor in the series. To accurately control the current density during the electrolytic process, the outlet tubing was introduced in the first reactor so that the level of the liquid stays constant as it is pumped into the second reactor with another pump. In this manner, the surface area of the electrode in contact with the solution was kept at 470 cm2 in the three reactors. Thus, applying the optimal current density for this transformation involved a total current of 49.2 A. Importantly, the connection between the power supply and the three reactors was carried out in parallel. Under these conditions, the electrical current will preferentially pass through the cell with the lowest resistance, which should be the first one (with the highest substrate concentration). As in all experiments, nitrogen gas was passed through the headspace of the reactors to dilute the hydrogen generated.

Figure 8

Figure 8. Schematic view of a cascade of 3 continuous stirred electrochemical reactors connected in series to achieve single-pass electrolysis of diphenylacetic acid (3). Impervious graphite was used as the anode material, and stainless steel was used as cathode.

The CSTER cascade was run under a constant current of 49.2 A in total and a spinning speed of 300 rpm in each cell. The optimal flow rate of the system was evaluated by gradually increasing the flow rate from 20 to 30 mL/min, which corresponds to decreasing the amount of charged pass through the solution from 3 to 2 F/mol. The output of the flow rig was monitored by HPLC under steady state conditions for each of the flow rates applied. Analysis of the crude reaction mixtures (Table 2) revealed that 24.5 mL/min (2.5 F/mol) provides full conversion of the starting material (3), and excellent selectivity toward 4. Under these conditions, the reactor was run under steady state conditions, and the solution from the output was collected for 5 h. During this period of time, no issues with the system or changes in the composition of the output solution were detected. Workup of the reaction mixture provided 711 g of compound 4 (97% isolated yield), which corresponds to a productivity of 146 g/h, or 3.5 kg per day (24 h).
Table 2. Optimization of the Flow Rate/Amount of Charge for the Anodic Decarboxylative Methoxylation of 3 in a Cascade of Three Reactors M (3 × 450 cm2) (See Figure 8 for a General Scheme)a
entryflow rate (mL/min)charge (F/mol)conversion [%]bselectivity [%]b
130.02.09596
227.82.29595
324.52.59894
421.92.89992
520.43.09992
a

Conditions: cascade of 3x Reactor M, constant current, 300 rpm each cell.

b

Determined by HPLC peak area percent at 215 nm.

Processing of a Slurry – Scale Up and Scale Down Demonstration

As mentioned in the introductory remarks, one of the main advantages of the spinning electrode cell is the ease with which it can process slurry reaction mixtures. This possibility can be of significant importance in the design of electrochemical transformations, as more flexibility on the choice of solvents and concentration of the reaction mixture is allowed, thus potentially benefiting the sustainability and cost efficiency of the process. To demonstrate the reactor capability, the reagent-free electrochemical side-chain cleavage of cortisone (5), which results in adrenosterone (6) as product, was selected as the model (Figure 9). (24) Cortisone is poorly soluble in many organic solvents. The optimal solvent mixture to perform the electrolysis in small batch experiments is a mixture of MeCN/H2O in a 40:1 ratio. The solubility of cortisone in this mixture is below 0.05 M. Thus, processing a homogeneous reaction mixture, a typical condition when parallel plate flow electrolysis cells are used, requires very high dilution, which is detrimental to the green chemistry metrics of the process. In contrast, small scale batch experimentation revealed that the amount of cortisone can be significantly increased by 10-fold, in a slurry containing 0.5 mmol of cortisone (180 mg) per mL of solvent. Initial examination of the reaction conditions in a 3 mL volume small scale reaction using the IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 cell indicated that this reaction does not tolerate high current densities. Optimal results were obtained under a constant current of 3.3 mA/cm2.

Figure 9

Figure 9. Electrochemical side-chain cleavage of cortisone in flow recirculation mode using a 450 cm2 surface area spinning electrode reactor.

Processing of a slurry containing cortisone (5) in a flow reactor featuring Reactor M (Figure 9) was carried out in recirculation mode. To avoid clogging of the flow recirculation system with the solid substrate, narrow tubing and connections were avoided thorough the setup. Tubing and fittings with a 3/16 in. diameter and a peristaltic pump were utilized to flow the reaction mixture through the system. For this experiment, 1 L of slurry containing 180 g of cortisone was placed in a magnetically stirred reservoir and recirculated through the cell and back to the reservoir at a flow rate of 200 mL/min. The mixture was electrolyzed under a spinning speed of 300 rpm and a constant current of 1.1 A (which corresponds to 3.3 mA/cm2) until 4 F/mol of charge had been passed. Once the reactor was emptied back into the reservoir, workup of the reaction mixture provided 141 g (94% isolated yield) of pure adrenosterone (6). Importantly, no clogging of the system or settling of particles within the reactor was observed during the process.
Next, we carried out the electrolysis of the slurry containing cortisone (5) using the three different reactor sizes (Reactor S, L, and M, featuring 94 cm2, 475 cm2, and 2466 cm2, respectively) to demonstrate the scalability of the system even in the presence of solid materials in suspension. To produce more comparable results between the three reactor sizes, the electrode spinning speeds were set so that they match the electrode surface velocity. This is because the effect of the rotation motion on the mass transfer during electrolysis depends on the velocity of the electrode surface with respect to the liquid phase rather than the rotational speed. In particular, a linear velocity of the electrode surface of ca. 4200 cm2/s was achieved by setting the spinning speed to 390, 150, and 65 rpm for reactors 1, 2, and 3, respectively (Table 3). (25) Additionally, the current optimal current density of 3.2 mA/cm2–3.3 mA/cm2 was used in the three reactors. In this context, as reactors M and L were not fully loaded (see Table 3), the total currents were adjusted accordingly to achieve the desired current density. Gratifyingly, the results achieved in the three reactors, which were operated in batch mode for these experiments, were nearly identical. Excellent isolated yields of desired product 6 were attained in all cases. It should be further emphasized that, using this technology, a simple set of experiments enables rapid scale-up from 450 mg of adrenosterone (6) production in an IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 experiment to 164 g in batch mode without any reoptimization of the reaction conditions. Translation to flow, as demonstrated above, would readily enable the generation of kilogram quantities of material.
Table 3. Scale-up Demonstration Using Reactors of Three Different Sizes, Using the Electrochemical Synthesis of Adrenosterone (6) as Modela
reactorused working electrode surface area (cm2)bCurrent [mA]rpmisolated material and yield
S943133907.2 g (95%)
M346110015057 g (95%)
L2214710065164 g (91%)
a

Conditions: 0.5 M cortisone (5), 0.1 M Et4NBF4, MeCN/H2O 40:1 constant current, 300 rpm.

b

The used working electrode surface area for Reactors 2 and 3 are lower than the expected for the setup because the reactors were not operated completely full.

Conclusions

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

In summary, we have designed, manufactured, and tested an electrochemical reactor concept based on a spinning cylinder electrode. The working electrode, located in the center of a concentrical electrode assembly, spins around its axis, providing very efficient mixing of the reaction mixture, which, in turn, results in excellent mass transfer and the possibility to handle slurries without electrode fouling, bridging, or clogging of the system. The device has been tested with several model reactions, including homo- and heterogeneous mixtures. In all cases, it has been demonstrated that the reaction conditions can be initially screened and optimized in a small-scale batch cell (3 mL volume) and then transferred to multigram amounts in the spinning electrode cell without the need to reoptimize the reaction conditions. The reactor can be operated in batch and flow mode. Flow operation has been demonstrated with both recirculation and single-pass operation. As the reactor behaves as a continuous stirred tank electrochemical reactor, a cascade of three reactors can be set to achieve continuous processing of a reaction mixture. Importantly, the technology is scalable, as the ratio between the electrode surface area and the reactor volume does not decrease as the reactor size is enlarged if the gap between the electrode (5 mm) is kept constant. Scalability has also been demonstrated by manufacturing cells of three different sizes, with working electrode surface areas of 94 cm2, 475 cm2, and 2466 cm2. Electrolysis of a slurry of cortisone (5) in the three reactors provided nearly identical results when the same current density and the surface velocity of the spinning electrode were kept constant.
The reactor concept enables transfer of a milligram scale electrolysis experiment (e.g., from an IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 cell) to multigram and even multi-100 g quantities in batch mode (Figure 10), independently of the presence of solids in the reaction mixture or gas evolution at the counter electrode, without any reoptimization of the reaction conditions. Further transfer to flow mode enables the preparation of kilogram amounts of material using either a recirculation approach or a reactor cascade. Single-pass continuous generation of 146 g/h of material in the 475 cm2 reactor has been shown herein, which corresponds to a projected amount of 18 kg/day of material in the 2466 cm2 reactor. (26)

Figure 10

Figure 10. Summary of the capabilities of scale-up opportunities using spinning cylinder electrode reactor technology.

Future work will expand the versatility and demonstrate the full potential of the spinning electrode cell by implementing a variety of anode and cathode materials, including flexible and 3D electrodes.

Experimental Section

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

General Remarks

1H NMR spectra were recorded on a 300 MHz instrument. 13C NMR spectra were recorded on the same instrument at 75 MHz. Chemical shifts (δ) are expressed in ppm downfield from TMS as an internal standard. The letters s, d, t, q, and m are used to indicate singlet, doublet, triplet, quadruplet, and multiplet, respectively. GC-FID analysis was performed on a Shimadzu GCFID 2030 with a flame ionization detector, using an RTX-5MS column (30 m × 0.25 mm ID × 0.25 μm) and helium as carrier gas (40 cm sec–1 linear velocity). The injector temperature was set to 280 °C. After 1 min at 50 °C, the temperature was increased by 25 °C min–1 to 300 °C and kept constant at 300 °C for 3 min. The detector gases used for flame ionization were hydrogen and synthetic air (5.0 quality). For HPLC, the separation was carried out on a Macherey-Nagel Nucleodur C18 HTec column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, particle size 5 μm) at 37 °C using mobile phases A (H2O/acetonitrile (9 + 1 v/v) + 0.1% TFA) and B (acetonitrile +0.1% TFA) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL min–1. The following gradient was applied: hold 5% of B for 2 min, then linear increase from 5% B to 20% B in 6 min, followed by a linear increase from 20% B to 100% B in 1 min, then hold 100% B for 1 min, followed by column equilibration time at 5% B for 5 min. The detection of compounds was accomplished by a diode array detector. All chemicals were obtained from standard commercial vendors and were used without any further purification. Small scale electrochemical reactions were carried out in 5 mL IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 vials, equipped with impervious graphite and stainless steel electrodes. Stainless steel electrodes for small scale experimentation were acquired from IKA. Impervious graphite for small scale experimentation were purchased from Graphtek LLC. An impervious graphite cylinder for the spinning electrode reactors was obtained from GAB Neumann. The reactor static electrode, used as the counter electrode, was made of 316 stainless steel, purchased from Edelstahl24 GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany). The spinning electrode reactors were powered with an adjustable BK Precision BK1900B power supply (960 W, max. 16 V, 60 A).
Caution: The electrochemical oxidations described herein produce stoichiometric amounts of H2 gas as byproduct. Appropriate dilution of the gas generated with N2 to a concentration below the explosion limit is highly recommended.

Electrochemical Methoxylation of N-Formyl Piperidine (1) in Batch Mode (Table 1)

An Erlenmeyer flask was loaded with N-formyl piperidine (1) (22.6 g, 200 mmol), Et4NBF4 (4.3 g, 20 mmol), and 200 mL of MeOH. The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved. Then, the solution was loaded into a spinning cylinder electrochemical reactor equipped with an impervious graphite anode (working electrode, 475 cm2) and a steel cathode. The solution was electrolyzed under the desired constant current by using a spinning speed of 300 rpm. After 2.2 F/mol of charge had been passed (the reaction time to complete the electrolysis depends on the current applied), the power supply was turned off. A 20 μL aliquot of the crude reaction mixture was diluted with MeCN, and the mixture was analyzed by HPLC.

Electrochemical Methoxylation of N-Formyl Piperidine (1) in Flow Recirculation Mode

In a 1 L volumetric flask were placed Et4NBF4 (21.7 g, 0.1 mol), N-formyl piperidine (1) (113.6 g, 1 mol), and MeOH (ca. 500 mL). The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved and then diluted with additional MeOH “up to the mark”. The solution was then loaded into a 1 L jacketed vessel equipped with a magnetic stirrer (reservoir). The solution was pumped into the bottom port of a spinning cylinder cell (475 cm2) using a peristaltic pump (Masterflex L/S) with a flow rate of 200 mL/min. Simultaneously, an outlet tube connected to a second pump was introduced into the cell via a top port. The second pump was set to a flow rate slightly larger than the input pump to ensure a constant level of liquid within the reactor. The outlet line was connected back to the solution reservoir. Once the system had been filled with liquid and recirculation of the electrolyte was established, the spinning of the electrode was initiated (300 rpm) as well as electrolysis under a constant current of 40 A. When 2.2 F/mol was passed, the power supply was turned off. The input pump was reversed to return all of the reaction mixture to the solution reservoir. Then, the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure, and the residue was extracted with DCM/water. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 128.5 g (93%) of 2-methoxypiperidine-1-carbaldehyde 2 as a brown liquid, which was isolated as a 2:1 mixture of rotamers; 1H NMR (300 MHz, chloroform-d) δ 8.14min and 8.13maj (s, 1H), 5.51min and 4.56maj (d, J = 2.8 Hz, 1H), 4.17–4.20maj and 3.38min (m, 1H), 3.24min and 3.18maj (s, 3H), 2.76–2.70maj (m, 0.7H), 1.99–1.38 (m, 6.5H) ppm. 13C NMR(75 MHz, CDCl3) δ 162.3min and 161.3maj, 85.7maj and 78.3min, 55.1min and 54.2maj, 41.9min and 35.9maj, 31.2maj and 29.9min, 25.9min and 24.5maj, 19.3maj and 19.2min ppm. These data agree with those previously reported in the literature. (20c)

Decarboxylative Methoxylation of Diphenylacetic Acid (3) in Flow Recirculation Mode

In a 1 L volumetric flask were placed NaOMe (2.7 g, 0.05 mol), diphenylacetic acid (3) (106.1 g, 0.5 mol), and MeOH (ca. 500 mL). The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved and then diluted with additional MeOH “up to the mark”. The solution was then loaded into a 1 L jacketed vessel equipped with a magnetic stirrer (reservoir). The solution was pumped into the bottom port of a spinning cylinder cell (475 cm2) using a peristaltic pump (Masterflex L/S) with a flow rate of 200 mL/min. Simultaneously, an outlet tube, connected to a second pump, was introduced into the cell via a top port. The second pump was set to a flow rate slightly larger than the input pump, to ensure a constant level of liquid within the reactor. The outlet line was connected back to the solution reservoir. Once the system had been filled with liquid and recirculation of the electrolyte was established, the spinning of the electrode was initiated (300 rpm) as well as electrolysis under a constant current of 12 A. When 2.2 F/mol was passed, the power supply was turned off. The input pump was reversed to return all the reaction mixture to the solution reservoir. Then, the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure and the residue was extracted with DCM/water. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 97.5 g (93%) of (methoxymethylene)dibenzene (2) as a brown liquid. 1H NMR (300 MHz, chloroform-d) δ 7.45–7.28 (m, 10H), 5.33 (s, 1H), 3.46 (s, 3H) ppm. 13C NMR (125 MHz, chloroform-d): δ 142.2, 128.5, 127.5, 126.9, 84.5, 57.1 ppm. These data agree with those previously reported in the literature. (23)

Decarboxylative Methoxylation of Diphenylacetic Acid (3) in a Continuous Stirred Electrochemical Reactor Cascade (CSTER)

The reactor cascade was prepared by connecting three identical spinning electrode cells in series (see Figure 7), using the bottom port as input and one of the top ports as output in all cases. The solution was introduced into the first reactor as well as transferred between reactors, using peristaltic pumps (Vaportec SF-10 or Masterflex L/S). A BK Precision BK1900B power supply (60 A) was connected in parallel to the three reactors. Thus, the power supply provides a fixed amount of current, which is then distributed between the reactors, according to their conductivity. A 0.5 M stock solution of diphenylacetic acid (3) containing 0.05 M of NaOMe in MeOH was prepared by dissolving 955.1 g (4.5 mol) of diphenylacetic acid (3) and 24.3 g (0.45 mol) of NaOMe in MeOH, and diluting the mixture to a total of 9 L of volume. The first pump connecting the stock solution of 3 to the first reactor was set to a flow rate of 24.5 mL/min and initiated. All other pumps were set to a slightly higher flow rate to ensure that the level of liquid in the three cells remains constant. Once the solution started to exit the third reactor spinning of the electrodes was initiated at 300 rpm. Then, the power supply was switched on and operated under a constant current of 49.2 A. The output of the flow setup was put to waste until steady state conditions were achieved (ca. 2 reactor volumes). Then, the reaction mixture was collected from the output of the flow system for 5 h. The solution obtained was evaporated under reduced pressure, and the residue was diluted with 5 L of an aqueous saturated NaHCO3 solution. The aqueous mixture was extracted with DCM and the organic phase dried over Na2SO4, filtered and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 711.25 g (97%) of (methoxymethylene)dibenzene (2). The spectroscopic data matched those obtained in a previous experiment.

Electrochemical Synthesis of Adrenosterone (6) in Flow Recirculation Mode

In a 1 L volumetric flask were placed Et4NBF4 (21.7 g, 0.1 mol), cortisone (5) (180.2 g, 0.5 mol), and ca. 500 mL of MeCN/H2O 40:1. The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved and then diluted with additional MeOH “up to the mark”. The solution was then loaded into a 1 L jacketed vessel equipped with a magnetic stirrer (reservoir). The solution was pumped into the bottom port of a spinning cylinder cell (475 cm2) using a peristaltic pump (Masterflex L/S) with a flow rate of 200 mL/min. Simultaneously, an outlet tube, connected to a second pump, was introduced into the cell via a top port. The second pump was set to a flow rate slightly larger than the input pump, to ensure a constant level of liquid within the reactor. The outlet line was connected back to the solution reservoir. Once the system had been filled with liquid and recirculation of the electrolyte was established, the spinning of the electrode was initiated (300 rpm) as well as electrolysis under a constant current of 1.1 A. When 4.0 F/mol was passed, the power supply was turned off. The input pump was reversed to return all the reaction mixture to the solution reservoir. Then, the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure and the residue was diluted with aqueous NaHCO3 (sat) and extracted with DCM. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 141.4 g (94%) of adrenosterone (6) as an off-white solid, mp 204–205 °C (lit. (24) 206–208 °C). 1H NMR (300 MHz, chloroform-d): δ 5.75 (s, 1H), 2.63–2.53 (m, 1H), 2.52–2.43 (m, 3H), 2.38–1.76 (m, 10H), 1.74–1.59 (m, 2H), 1.44 (s, 3H), 1.37–1.27 (m 1H), 0.88 (s, 3H) ppm. 13C NMR (125 MHz, chloroform-d): δ 216.8, 207.6, 199.5, 167.9, 124.8, 63.3, 50.4, 50.4, 49.8, 38.3, 36.3, 35.9, 34.7, 33.7, 31.9, 30.9, 21.6, 17.3, 14.7 ppm. These data agree with those previously reported in the literature. (24)

Scale-down of the Electrochemical Synthesis of Adrenosterone (6) in Batch Mode

An Erlenmeyer flask was loaded with cortisone (5) (9.01 g, 25 mmol), Et4NBF4 (1.09 g, 5 mmol), and 50 mL of MeCN/H2O 40:1. The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved. Then, the solution was loaded into a smaller version of the spinning cylinder electrochemical reactor equipped with an impervious graphite anode (working electrode, 94 cm2) and a steel cathode. The solution was electrolyzed under a constant current of 333 mA and a spinning speed of 390 rpm. After 4.0 F/mol of charge had been passed, the power supply was turned off. Then, the crude reaction mixture was evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was diluted with aqueous NaHCO3 (sat) and the extracted with DCM. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 7.17 g (95%) of adrenosterone (6) as an off-white solid, mp 207–209 °C (lit. (24) 206–208 °C). The spectroscopic data matched those obtained in the previous experiment.

Scale-up of the Electrochemical Synthesis of Adrenosterone (6) in Batch Mode

An Erlenmeyer flask was loaded with cortisone (5) (216.3 g, 0.6 mol), Et4NBF4 (26.05 g, 0.12 mol), and 1.2 L of MeCN/H2O 40:1. The mixture was stirred until the supporting electrolyte was fully dissolved. Then, the solution was loaded into a large version of the spinning cylinder electrochemical reactor equipped with an impervious graphite anode (working electrode, 2466 cm2) and a steel cathode. The solution was electrolyzed under a constant current of 7.1 A and a spinning speed of 65 rpm. After 4.0 F/mol of charge had been passed the power supply was turned off. Then, the crude reaction mixture was evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was diluted with aqueous NaHCO3 (sat) and then extracted with DCM. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated under reduced pressure, yielding 163.5 g (91%) of adrenosterone (6) as an off-white solid, mp 201–202 °C (lit. (24) 206–208 °C). The spectroscopic data matched those obtained in the previous experiment.

Supporting Information

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00255.

  • Supplementary pictures and tables, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra of the prepared products. (PDF)

Terms & Conditions

Most electronic Supporting Information files are available without a subscription to ACS Web Editions. Such files may be downloaded by article for research use (if there is a public use license linked to the relevant article, that license may permit other uses). Permission may be obtained from ACS for other uses through requests via the RightsLink permission system: http://pubs.acs.org/page/copyright/permissions.html.

Author Information

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

  • Corresponding Authors
    • C. Oliver Kappe - Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, AustriaCenter for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, AustriaOrcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2983-6007 Email: [email protected]
    • David Cantillo - Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, AustriaCenter for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, AustriaOrcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7604-8711 Email: [email protected]
  • Authors
    • Nikola Petrović - Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, AustriaCenter for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
    • Bhanwar K. Malviya - Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, NAWI Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, A-8010 Graz, AustriaCenter for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFLOW), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE), Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria
  • Funding

    This work was funded by Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft (AWS, Grant number P2119778-WTG02). The Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering (RCPE) is funded within the framework of COMET - Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies by BMK, BMDW, Land Steiermark and SFG. The COMET program is managed by the FFG.

  • Notes
    The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Acknowledgments

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

We gratefully acknowledge Florian Sommer and Elias Hammer for their assistance in the manufacture of the electrochemical reactors.

References

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

This article references 26 other publications.

  1. 1
    (a) Cohen, B.; Lehnherr, D.; Sezen-Edmonds, M.; Forstater, J. H.; Frederick, M. O.; Deng, L.; Ferretti, A. C.; Harper, K.; Diwan, M. Emerging reaction technologies in pharmaceutical development: Challenges and opportunities in electrochemistry, photochemistry, and biocatalysis. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 2023, 192, 622637,  DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2023.02.050
    (b) Yan, M.; Kawamata, Y.; Baran, P. S. Synthetic Organic Electrochemical Methods since 2000: On the Verge of a Renaissance. Chem. Rev. 2017, 117, 1323013319,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00397
    (c) Echeverria, P.-G.; Delbrayelle, D.; Letort, A.; Nomertin, F.; Perez, M.; Petit, L. The Spectacular Resurgence of Electrochemical Redox Reactions in Organic Synthesis. Aldrichimica Acta 2018, 51, 319
    (d) Waldvogel, S. R.; Janza, B. Renaissance of electrosynthetic methods for the construction of complex molecules. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 71227123,  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201405082
  2. 2
    (a) Schäfer, H. J. Contributions of organic electrosynthesis to green chemistry. C. R. Chim. 2011, 14, 745765,  DOI: 10.1016/j.crci.2011.01.002
    (b) Frontana-Uribe, B. A.; Little, D. R.; Ibanez, J. G.; Palma, A.; Vasquez-Medrano, R. Organic electrosynthesis: a promising green methodology in organic chemistry. Green Chem. 2010, 12, 20992119,  DOI: 10.1039/c0gc00382d
    (c) Schaub, T. Efficient Industrial Organic Synthesis and the Principles of Green Chemistry. Chem.─Eur. J. 2021, 27, 18651869,  DOI: 10.1002/chem.202003544
    (d) Cantillo, D. Synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients using Electrochemical Methods: Keys to Improve Sustainability. Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 619628,  DOI: 10.1039/D1CC06296D
  3. 3
    (a) Pollok, D.; Gleede, B.; Stenglein, A.; Waldvogel, S. R. Preparative Batch-Type Electrosynthesis: A Tutorial. Aldrichimica Acta 2021, 54, 315
    (b) Schotten, C.; Nicholls, T. P.; Bourne, R. A.; Kapur, N.; Nguyen, B. N.; Willans, C. E. Making electrochemistry easily accessible to the synthetic chemist. Green Chem. 2020, 22, 33583375,  DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01247E
    (c) Hilt, G. Basic Strategies and Types of Applications in Organic Electrochemistry. ChemElectroChem. 2020, 7, 395405,  DOI: 10.1002/celc.201901799
  4. 4
    (a) Pletcher, D.; Green, R. A.; Brown, R. C. D. Flow Electrolysis Cells for the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratory. Chem. Rev. 2018, 118, 45734591,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00360
    (b) Elsherbini, M.; Wirth, T. Electroorganic Synthesis under Flow Conditions. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 32873296,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00497
  5. 5
    Noël, T.; Cao, Y.; Laudadio, G. The Fundamentals Behind the Use of Flow Reactors in Electrochemistry. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 28582869,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00412
  6. 6
    Pletcher, D.; Walsh, F. C. Industrial Electrochemistry; Springer: Netherlands, 1993.
  7. 7
    Maljuric, S.; Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Translating batch electrochemistry to single-pass continuous flow conditions: an organic chemist’s guide. J. Flow Chem. 2020, 10, 181190,  DOI: 10.1007/s41981-019-00050-z
  8. 8
    Goodridge, F.; Scott, K. Electrochemical Process Engineering – A Guide to the Design of Electrolytic Plant; Springer Science+ Business Media: New York, 1995.
  9. 9
    Schoenitz, M.; Grundemann, L.; Augustin, W.; Scholl, S. Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 82138228,  DOI: 10.1039/C4CC07849G
  10. 10
    Zhao, X.; Ren, H.; Luo, L. Gas Bubbles in Electrochemical Gas Evolution Reactions. Langmuir 2019, 35, 53925408,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b00119
  11. 11
    Bottecchia, C.; Lehnherr, D.; Lévesque, F.; Reibarkh, M.; Ji, Y.; Rodrigues, V. L.; Wang, H.; Lam, Y.-H.; Vickery, T. P.; Armstrong, B. M.; Mattern, K. A.; Stone, K.; Wismer, M. K.; Singh, A. N.; Regalado, E. L.; Maloney, K. M.; Strotman, N. A. Kilo-Scale Electrochemical Oxidation of a Thioether to a Sulfone: A Workflow for Scaling up Electrosynthesis. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26, 24232437,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00111
  12. 12

    Spinning electrode electrolysis cells, also called rotating cylinder cells, have previously found applications in electrolysis processes such as water waste treatment and metal recovery:

    (a) Polcaro, A. M.; Vacca, A.; Mascia, M.; Palmas, S.; Pompei, R.; Laconi, S. Characterization of a stirred tank electrochemical cell for water disinfection processes. Electrochim. Acta 2007, 52, 25952602,  DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2006.09.015
    (b) Hernández-Tapia, J. R.; Vazquez-Arenas, J.; González, I. Electrochemical reactor with rotating cylinder electrode for optimum electrochemical recovery of nickel from plating rinsing effluents. J. Haz. Mater. 2013, 262, 709716,  DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.09.029
    (c) Luis Nava-M. de Oca, J.; Sosa, E.; Ponce de Leon, C.; Oropeza, M.T. Effectiveness factors in an electrochemical reactor with rotating cylinder electrode for the acid-cupric/copper cathode interface process. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2001, 56, 26952702,  DOI: 10.1016/S0009-2509(00)00514-5
    (d) Gao, H.; Scheeline, A.; Pearlstein, A. J. Spatially Controlled Microstructural Variation using a Free-Surface Flow Driven by a Rotating Cylinder Electrode: Growth of Anodic Oxide Films on A1 6061. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2002, 149, B248,  DOI: 10.1149/1.1471889
    (e) Gabe, C. R.; Walsh, F. C. The rotating cylinder electrode: a review of development. J. Appl. Electrochem. 1983, 13, 322,  DOI: 10.1007/BF00615883
  13. 13

    A Taylor vortex reactor based on the same principle has recently been applied to synthetic organic electrochemistry by George and co-workers:

    (a) Love, A.; Lee, D. S.; Gennari, G.; Jefferson-Loveday, R.; Pickering, S. J.; Poliakoff, M.; George, M. A Continuous-Flow Electrochemical Taylor Vortex Reactor: A Laboratory-Scale High-Throughput Flow Reactor with Enhanced Mixing for Scalable Electrosynthesis. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2021, 25, 16191627,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.1c00102
    (b) Lee, D. S.; Love, A.; Mansouri, Z.; Waldron Clarke, T. H.; Harrowven, D. C.; Jefferson-Loveday, R.; Pickering, S. J.; Poliakoff, M.; George, M. W. High-Productivity Single-Pass Electrochemical Birch Reduction of Naphthalenes in a Continuous Flow Electrochemical Taylor Vortex Reactor. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26, 26742684,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00108
  14. 14
    Small scale experiments were carried out in an IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 electrochemical reactor: https://www.ika.com/en/Products-LabEq/Electrochemistry-Kit-pg516/ElectraSyn-20-pro-Package-40003261/ (accessed on July 26, 2023).
  15. 15
    Selman, J. R.; Tobias, C. W. Mass-Transfer Measurements by the Limiting-Current Technique. Adv. Chem. Eng. 1978, 10, 211318,  DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2377(08)60134-9
  16. 16
    Scott, K.; Lobato, J. Determination of a Mass-Transfer Coefficient Using the Limiting-Current Technique. Chem. Educator 2002, 7, 214219,  DOI: 10.1007/s00897020579a
  17. 17
    Fogler, H. S. Residence time distributions of chemical reactors. In Elements of chemical reaction engineering, 5th ed.; Pearson Education, Inc.: London, 2016.
  18. 18
    Scott, K. The continuous stirred tank electrochemical reactor. An overview of dynamic and steady state analysis for design and modelling. J. Appl. Electrochem. 1991, 21, 945960,  DOI: 10.1007/BF01077579
  19. 19
    Shono, T. Electroorganic chemistry in organic synthesis. Tetrahedron 1984, 40, 811850,  DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(01)91472-3
  20. 20
    (a) Birkin, P. R.; Kuleshova, J.; Hill-Cousins, J. T.; Brown, R. C. D.; Pletcher, D.; Underwood, T. J. A simple and inexpensive microfluidic electrolysis cell. Electrochim. Acta 2011, 56, 43224326,  DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2011.01.036
    (b) Folgueiras-Amador, A. A. A.; Teuten, A. E. E.; Pletcher, D.; Brown, R. C. D. React. Chem. Eng. 2020, 5, 712718,  DOI: 10.1039/D0RE00019A
    (c) Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. ChemElectroChem. 2020, 7, 27772783,  DOI: 10.1002/celc.202000696
  21. 21

    Sufficient inert gas flow to ensure that the H2 gas concentration is below 4% should be provided:

    Najjar, Y. S. H. Hydrogen safety: The road toward green technology. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2013, 38, 1071610728,  DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.05.126
  22. 22
    Tanbouza, N.; Ollevier, T.; Lam, K. Bridging Lab and Industry with Flow Electrochemistry. iScience 2020, 23, 101720,  DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101720
  23. 23
    Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Development and Assembly of a Flow Cell for Single-Pass Continuous Electroorganic Synthesis Using Laser-Cut Components. Chem. Methods 2021, 1, 3642,  DOI: 10.1002/cmtd.202000042
  24. 24
    Sommer, F.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Electrochemically Enabled One-Pot Multistep Synthesis of C19 Androgen Steroids. Chem.─Eur. J. 2021, 27, 60446049,  DOI: 10.1002/chem.202100446
  25. 25

    The surface velocity ‘V’ (in cm/s) can be calculated from the spinning speed ‘S’ (in rpm) and the diameter ‘D’ of the working electrode using the following equation: V(cm/s) = π × D(cm) × S(min–1)/60(s/min).

  26. 26
    A previous version of this manuscript has been deposited in ChemRxiv: Petrović, N.; Malviya, B. K.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. ChemRxiv 2023, Pre-print. DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-6vvnn .

Cited By

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!

This article is cited by 6 publications.

  1. Alexander C. Reidell, Kristen E. Pazder, Christopher T. LeBarron, Skylar A. Stewart, Seyyedamirhossein Hosseini. Modified Working Electrodes for Organic Electrosynthesis. ACS Organic & Inorganic Au 2024, Article ASAP.
  2. Nikola Petrović, Graham R. Cumming, Christopher A. Hone, María José Nieves-Remacha, Pablo García-Losada, Óscar de Frutos, C. Oliver Kappe, David Cantillo. Design of Experiments-Based Optimization of an Electrochemical Decarboxylative Alkylation Using a Spinning Cylinder Electrode Reactor. Organic Process Research & Development 2024, 28 (7) , 2928-2934. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.4c00178
  3. Hannah L. D. Hayes, Carl J. Mallia. Continuous Flow Chemistry with Solids: A Review. Organic Process Research & Development 2024, 28 (5) , 1327-1354. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00407
  4. Bhanwar K. Malviya, Eric C. Hansen, Caleb J. Kong, Joseph Imbrogno, Jenson Verghese, Steven M. Guinness, Chase A. Salazar, Jean-Nicolas Desrosiers, C. Oliver Kappe, David Cantillo. Scalable Quasi-Divided Cell Operation Using Spinning Cylinder Electrode Technology: Multigram Electrochemical Synthesis of an Axitinib Intermediate. Organic Process Research & Development 2024, 28 (3) , 790-797. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00508
  5. Dan Lehnherr, Longrui Chen. Overview of Recent Scale-Ups in Organic Electrosynthesis (2000–2023). Organic Process Research & Development 2024, 28 (2) , 338-366. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00340
  6. Bhanwar K. Malviya, Cecilia Bottecchia, Kevin Stone, Dan Lehnherr, François Lévesque, C. Oliver Kappe, David Cantillo. Multigram Electrochemical Hofmann Rearrangement Using a Spinning Three-Dimensional Anode. Organic Process Research & Development 2023, 27 (11) , 2183-2191. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00332
Open PDF

Organic Process Research & Development

Cite this: Org. Process Res. Dev. 2023, 27, 11, 2072–2081
Click to copy citationCitation copied!
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00255
Published October 11, 2023

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under

CC-BY 4.0 .

Article Views

8208

Altmetric

-

Citations

Learn about these metrics

Article Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.

Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.

The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.

  • Abstract

    Figure 1

    Figure 1. Comparison of the scale-up of electrochemical processes in parallel plate flow cells vs the spinning electrode reactor presented herein.

    Figure 2

    Figure 2. Computer generated images of the reactor components and assembly.

    Figure 3

    Figure 3. Simplified view of the electrode dimension of the 3 electrochemical reactors assembled in this work and photograph of the units.

    Figure 4

    Figure 4. Fluidic and electrical connections in the spinning electrode cell.

    Figure 5

    Figure 5. (a) Schematic view of the setup used to determine the mass transfer of the system under different electrode spinning speeds and (b) mass transfer (km) values obtained in cm/s. Details on the calculation of km from the limiting current experiments are collected in the Supporting Information.

    Figure 6

    Figure 6. (a) Schematic view of the setup utilized for the evaluation of the residence time distribution in the spinning electrode reactor. KHP: potassium hydrogen phthalate. (b) E curve obtained when the reactor was fed from the top port and (c) from the bottom port. E(t) corresponds to the fraction of particles that stay in the reactor for a given time before exiting.

    Figure 7

    Figure 7. (a) Electrochemical methoxylation of N-formyl piperidine (1) and (b) schematic view of the flow setup with the electrolyte recirculation operation used for the reaction.

    Figure 8

    Figure 8. Schematic view of a cascade of 3 continuous stirred electrochemical reactors connected in series to achieve single-pass electrolysis of diphenylacetic acid (3). Impervious graphite was used as the anode material, and stainless steel was used as cathode.

    Figure 9

    Figure 9. Electrochemical side-chain cleavage of cortisone in flow recirculation mode using a 450 cm2 surface area spinning electrode reactor.

    Figure 10

    Figure 10. Summary of the capabilities of scale-up opportunities using spinning cylinder electrode reactor technology.

  • References


    This article references 26 other publications.

    1. 1
      (a) Cohen, B.; Lehnherr, D.; Sezen-Edmonds, M.; Forstater, J. H.; Frederick, M. O.; Deng, L.; Ferretti, A. C.; Harper, K.; Diwan, M. Emerging reaction technologies in pharmaceutical development: Challenges and opportunities in electrochemistry, photochemistry, and biocatalysis. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 2023, 192, 622637,  DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2023.02.050
      (b) Yan, M.; Kawamata, Y.; Baran, P. S. Synthetic Organic Electrochemical Methods since 2000: On the Verge of a Renaissance. Chem. Rev. 2017, 117, 1323013319,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00397
      (c) Echeverria, P.-G.; Delbrayelle, D.; Letort, A.; Nomertin, F.; Perez, M.; Petit, L. The Spectacular Resurgence of Electrochemical Redox Reactions in Organic Synthesis. Aldrichimica Acta 2018, 51, 319
      (d) Waldvogel, S. R.; Janza, B. Renaissance of electrosynthetic methods for the construction of complex molecules. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 71227123,  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201405082
    2. 2
      (a) Schäfer, H. J. Contributions of organic electrosynthesis to green chemistry. C. R. Chim. 2011, 14, 745765,  DOI: 10.1016/j.crci.2011.01.002
      (b) Frontana-Uribe, B. A.; Little, D. R.; Ibanez, J. G.; Palma, A.; Vasquez-Medrano, R. Organic electrosynthesis: a promising green methodology in organic chemistry. Green Chem. 2010, 12, 20992119,  DOI: 10.1039/c0gc00382d
      (c) Schaub, T. Efficient Industrial Organic Synthesis and the Principles of Green Chemistry. Chem.─Eur. J. 2021, 27, 18651869,  DOI: 10.1002/chem.202003544
      (d) Cantillo, D. Synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients using Electrochemical Methods: Keys to Improve Sustainability. Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 619628,  DOI: 10.1039/D1CC06296D
    3. 3
      (a) Pollok, D.; Gleede, B.; Stenglein, A.; Waldvogel, S. R. Preparative Batch-Type Electrosynthesis: A Tutorial. Aldrichimica Acta 2021, 54, 315
      (b) Schotten, C.; Nicholls, T. P.; Bourne, R. A.; Kapur, N.; Nguyen, B. N.; Willans, C. E. Making electrochemistry easily accessible to the synthetic chemist. Green Chem. 2020, 22, 33583375,  DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01247E
      (c) Hilt, G. Basic Strategies and Types of Applications in Organic Electrochemistry. ChemElectroChem. 2020, 7, 395405,  DOI: 10.1002/celc.201901799
    4. 4
      (a) Pletcher, D.; Green, R. A.; Brown, R. C. D. Flow Electrolysis Cells for the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratory. Chem. Rev. 2018, 118, 45734591,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00360
      (b) Elsherbini, M.; Wirth, T. Electroorganic Synthesis under Flow Conditions. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 32873296,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00497
    5. 5
      Noël, T.; Cao, Y.; Laudadio, G. The Fundamentals Behind the Use of Flow Reactors in Electrochemistry. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 28582869,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00412
    6. 6
      Pletcher, D.; Walsh, F. C. Industrial Electrochemistry; Springer: Netherlands, 1993.
    7. 7
      Maljuric, S.; Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Translating batch electrochemistry to single-pass continuous flow conditions: an organic chemist’s guide. J. Flow Chem. 2020, 10, 181190,  DOI: 10.1007/s41981-019-00050-z
    8. 8
      Goodridge, F.; Scott, K. Electrochemical Process Engineering – A Guide to the Design of Electrolytic Plant; Springer Science+ Business Media: New York, 1995.
    9. 9
      Schoenitz, M.; Grundemann, L.; Augustin, W.; Scholl, S. Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 82138228,  DOI: 10.1039/C4CC07849G
    10. 10
      Zhao, X.; Ren, H.; Luo, L. Gas Bubbles in Electrochemical Gas Evolution Reactions. Langmuir 2019, 35, 53925408,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b00119
    11. 11
      Bottecchia, C.; Lehnherr, D.; Lévesque, F.; Reibarkh, M.; Ji, Y.; Rodrigues, V. L.; Wang, H.; Lam, Y.-H.; Vickery, T. P.; Armstrong, B. M.; Mattern, K. A.; Stone, K.; Wismer, M. K.; Singh, A. N.; Regalado, E. L.; Maloney, K. M.; Strotman, N. A. Kilo-Scale Electrochemical Oxidation of a Thioether to a Sulfone: A Workflow for Scaling up Electrosynthesis. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26, 24232437,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00111
    12. 12

      Spinning electrode electrolysis cells, also called rotating cylinder cells, have previously found applications in electrolysis processes such as water waste treatment and metal recovery:

      (a) Polcaro, A. M.; Vacca, A.; Mascia, M.; Palmas, S.; Pompei, R.; Laconi, S. Characterization of a stirred tank electrochemical cell for water disinfection processes. Electrochim. Acta 2007, 52, 25952602,  DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2006.09.015
      (b) Hernández-Tapia, J. R.; Vazquez-Arenas, J.; González, I. Electrochemical reactor with rotating cylinder electrode for optimum electrochemical recovery of nickel from plating rinsing effluents. J. Haz. Mater. 2013, 262, 709716,  DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.09.029
      (c) Luis Nava-M. de Oca, J.; Sosa, E.; Ponce de Leon, C.; Oropeza, M.T. Effectiveness factors in an electrochemical reactor with rotating cylinder electrode for the acid-cupric/copper cathode interface process. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2001, 56, 26952702,  DOI: 10.1016/S0009-2509(00)00514-5
      (d) Gao, H.; Scheeline, A.; Pearlstein, A. J. Spatially Controlled Microstructural Variation using a Free-Surface Flow Driven by a Rotating Cylinder Electrode: Growth of Anodic Oxide Films on A1 6061. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2002, 149, B248,  DOI: 10.1149/1.1471889
      (e) Gabe, C. R.; Walsh, F. C. The rotating cylinder electrode: a review of development. J. Appl. Electrochem. 1983, 13, 322,  DOI: 10.1007/BF00615883
    13. 13

      A Taylor vortex reactor based on the same principle has recently been applied to synthetic organic electrochemistry by George and co-workers:

      (a) Love, A.; Lee, D. S.; Gennari, G.; Jefferson-Loveday, R.; Pickering, S. J.; Poliakoff, M.; George, M. A Continuous-Flow Electrochemical Taylor Vortex Reactor: A Laboratory-Scale High-Throughput Flow Reactor with Enhanced Mixing for Scalable Electrosynthesis. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2021, 25, 16191627,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.1c00102
      (b) Lee, D. S.; Love, A.; Mansouri, Z.; Waldron Clarke, T. H.; Harrowven, D. C.; Jefferson-Loveday, R.; Pickering, S. J.; Poliakoff, M.; George, M. W. High-Productivity Single-Pass Electrochemical Birch Reduction of Naphthalenes in a Continuous Flow Electrochemical Taylor Vortex Reactor. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26, 26742684,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00108
    14. 14
      Small scale experiments were carried out in an IKA ElectraSyn 2.0 electrochemical reactor: https://www.ika.com/en/Products-LabEq/Electrochemistry-Kit-pg516/ElectraSyn-20-pro-Package-40003261/ (accessed on July 26, 2023).
    15. 15
      Selman, J. R.; Tobias, C. W. Mass-Transfer Measurements by the Limiting-Current Technique. Adv. Chem. Eng. 1978, 10, 211318,  DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2377(08)60134-9
    16. 16
      Scott, K.; Lobato, J. Determination of a Mass-Transfer Coefficient Using the Limiting-Current Technique. Chem. Educator 2002, 7, 214219,  DOI: 10.1007/s00897020579a
    17. 17
      Fogler, H. S. Residence time distributions of chemical reactors. In Elements of chemical reaction engineering, 5th ed.; Pearson Education, Inc.: London, 2016.
    18. 18
      Scott, K. The continuous stirred tank electrochemical reactor. An overview of dynamic and steady state analysis for design and modelling. J. Appl. Electrochem. 1991, 21, 945960,  DOI: 10.1007/BF01077579
    19. 19
      Shono, T. Electroorganic chemistry in organic synthesis. Tetrahedron 1984, 40, 811850,  DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(01)91472-3
    20. 20
      (a) Birkin, P. R.; Kuleshova, J.; Hill-Cousins, J. T.; Brown, R. C. D.; Pletcher, D.; Underwood, T. J. A simple and inexpensive microfluidic electrolysis cell. Electrochim. Acta 2011, 56, 43224326,  DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2011.01.036
      (b) Folgueiras-Amador, A. A. A.; Teuten, A. E. E.; Pletcher, D.; Brown, R. C. D. React. Chem. Eng. 2020, 5, 712718,  DOI: 10.1039/D0RE00019A
      (c) Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. ChemElectroChem. 2020, 7, 27772783,  DOI: 10.1002/celc.202000696
    21. 21

      Sufficient inert gas flow to ensure that the H2 gas concentration is below 4% should be provided:

      Najjar, Y. S. H. Hydrogen safety: The road toward green technology. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2013, 38, 1071610728,  DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.05.126
    22. 22
      Tanbouza, N.; Ollevier, T.; Lam, K. Bridging Lab and Industry with Flow Electrochemistry. iScience 2020, 23, 101720,  DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101720
    23. 23
      Jud, W.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Development and Assembly of a Flow Cell for Single-Pass Continuous Electroorganic Synthesis Using Laser-Cut Components. Chem. Methods 2021, 1, 3642,  DOI: 10.1002/cmtd.202000042
    24. 24
      Sommer, F.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. Electrochemically Enabled One-Pot Multistep Synthesis of C19 Androgen Steroids. Chem.─Eur. J. 2021, 27, 60446049,  DOI: 10.1002/chem.202100446
    25. 25

      The surface velocity ‘V’ (in cm/s) can be calculated from the spinning speed ‘S’ (in rpm) and the diameter ‘D’ of the working electrode using the following equation: V(cm/s) = π × D(cm) × S(min–1)/60(s/min).

    26. 26
      A previous version of this manuscript has been deposited in ChemRxiv: Petrović, N.; Malviya, B. K.; Kappe, C. O.; Cantillo, D. ChemRxiv 2023, Pre-print. DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-6vvnn .
  • Supporting Information

    Supporting Information


    The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00255.

    • Supplementary pictures and tables, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra of the prepared products. (PDF)


    Terms & Conditions

    Most electronic Supporting Information files are available without a subscription to ACS Web Editions. Such files may be downloaded by article for research use (if there is a public use license linked to the relevant article, that license may permit other uses). Permission may be obtained from ACS for other uses through requests via the RightsLink permission system: http://pubs.acs.org/page/copyright/permissions.html.