External trapping of halomethyllithium enabled by flow microreactors

Abstract

This work demonstrates that the accurate control of the reaction parameters realized within microreactor systems allowed for a taming of the reactivity of thermally unstable intermediates such as haloalkyllithiums. The first example of effective external trapping of a reactive carbenoid such as the chloromethyllithium is described. By using microreactor systems, a continuous flow synthesis of chloro alcohols and chloro amines could be achieved with high yields. By controlling the residence time the highly reactive chloromethyllithium could be generated and reacted with electrophiles at temperatures much higher than in batch-mode and without internal quenching. The developed continuous-flow process matches the requirements for sustainability.