Microfluidic electrochemistry delivers radical coupling breakthrough

Photoredox catalysis has opened many doors in organic synthesis in the past decade, enabling the small-scale synthesis of many compounds that are otherwise difficult or impossible to produce. It is problematic above laboratory scale, however. Now researchers in the US present a microfluidic flow cell that can synthesise many of the same molecules as photoredox catalysis, and potentially others. They demonstrate the method’s viability by performing key chemical transformations and synthesising a liquid crystal used in LCDs.