Continuous-flow photochemical carbene transfer reactions

Abstract

Photochemistry constitutes an important tool to conduct environmentally benign and efficient transformations in organic synthesis. Conventional batch transformations are limited in productivity and scale due to Beer’s law, which can be easily overcome using flow chemistry approaches. Herein, we report on the continuous-flow photolysis of aryl diazoacetates using a glass microreactor and blue LEDs. Following this methodology, we were able to demonstrate the application of continuous-flow chemistry in photochemical cyclopropanation and rearrangement reactions and demonstrate the scalability of photochemical carbene transfer reactions.