We’re going to need a bigger flask

A conceptual illustration for the scaling up of chemical reactions

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Scaling up reactions is easy to get wrong in a variety of ways

You, as a synthetic organic chemist, have just performed a successful reaction in your fume cupboard. This does not happen every day in research, so that’s a good start. Let’s say that it’s on a 100mg scale, which depending on your type of work will be either a small test reaction or an amount of product far more goodly than anyone will ever need. Assuming it’s the former, you will then need to scale things up. You’ll be entering a different world of chemistry.