Microwave-assisted organic synthesis in microstructured reactors

The coupling of microwave heating with microprocessing in continuous-flow reactors has been reviewed in various organic synthesis reactions. The fast growing field of microwave and microreactor technology has a significant impact on the development of fine chemicals industry. Both technologies offer not only the possibility of realizing many of the individual advantages integrated into one combined system, but also the potential of eliminating the major hurdle of a limited microwave penetration depth for large-scale chemical synthesis. Metal film-coated capillary microreactors allow creation of local hot spots to achieve temperatures far in excess of the solvent temperature, which accelerates chemical reactions under MW heating.