Abstract
The last decade has witnessed a remarkable development towards improved and new photochemical transformations in response to greener and more sustainable chemical synthesis needs. Additionally, the availability of modern continuous flow reactors has enabled widespread applications in view of more streamlined and custom designed flow processes. In this focused review article, we wish to evaluate the standing of the field of continuous flow photochemistry with a specific emphasis on the generation of bioactive entities, including natural products, drugs and their precursors. To this end we highlight key developments in this field that have contributed to the progress achieved to date. Dedicated sections present the variety of suitable reactor designs and set-ups available; a short discussion on the relevance of greener and more sustainable approaches; and selected key applications in the area of bioactive structures. A final section outlines remaining challenges and areas that will benefit from further developments in this fast-moving area. It is hoped that this report provides a valuable update on this important field of synthetic chemistry which may fuel developments in the future.
Highlights
The last decade has witnessed a much-welcomed renaissance and subsequent exploitation of photochemical transformations within the chemistry community
Continuous flow technology [7,8,9,10,11,12,13] has had a major impact on popularizing photochemical reactions, as it provides the tools to effectively perform photochemical reactions, but helps overcoming limitations that are inherent to photochemistry
It is evident that the best solutions are obtained when innovative reactor designs are developed and applied to a given synthetic challenge, thereby exemplifying the synergy that can be gained from the union of synthetic chemistry and chemical engineering
Summary
The last decade has witnessed a much-welcomed renaissance and subsequent exploitation of photochemical transformations within the chemistry community This renewed interest in utilizing light to bring about chemical reactions is largely fueled by a desire to realize more sustainable approaches for target molecule synthesis, along with significant advances in the field of photoredox catalysis where both transition metals and organic dyes have been exploited. As the field of continuous flow photosynthesis is moving forward at fast pace, we wish to provide a focused review on its impact on generating bioactive molecules [18,19,20]. That is followed by a dedicated section reviewing recent applications of photochemical transformations to enable the formation of bioactive species, before an assessment of the feasibility of readily integrating photochemical transformations into advanced multistep sequences in flow mode
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