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Research project

EP/G02796X/1 - Microfluidic Electrolytic Cells for Routine Synthesis in the Pharmaceutical Industry - R Brown

Project overview

Electrolysis is a synthetic procedure that avoids the use of stoichiometric and toxic/hazardous reagents and is usually carried close to ambient conditions. In addition, there is an extensive literature showing that reactions of interest to the pharmaceutical industry can be carried out with good selectivity. Despite this, and the consequential opportunity to develop more environmentally acceptable synthetic methods, the use of electrolysis is rare because of the need for specialist equipment and know-how. This project brings together a manufacturer of microflow equipment, industrial and academic synthetic organic chemists and electrochemists with experience of both organic electrosynthesis and equipment design/development in order (a) to develop user friendly microflow electrolysis equipment suitable for integration with traditional microflow systems (b) to show that the equipment is well matched to the challenges found in the pharmaceutical industry by optimising several conversions including the selective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds, the amination of alcohols, and partial fluorination.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Richard Brown

Professor of Organic Chemistry
Research interests
  • Organic synthesis
  • Total synthesis of natural products
  • Asymmetric synthesis
Connect with Richard

Email: R.C.Brown@soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor Peter Birkin

Professor
Research interests
  • My work has centred on the phenomena of cavitation; this is both a fascinating and experiment…
Connect with Peter

Email: prb2@soton.ac.uk

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs

A voltammetric study of the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl (TEMPO) mediated oxidation of benzyl alcohol in tert-butanol/water
Robert Green, Joseph Hill-Cousins, Richard Brown, Derek Pletcher & Stuart Leach, 2013, Electrochimica Acta, 113, 550-556
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.09.070
Type: article
The methoxylation of N-formylpyrrolidine in a microfluidic electrolysis cell for routine synthesis
Jekaterina Kuleshova, Joseph T. Hill-Cousins, Peter R. Birkin, Richard C.D. Brown, Derek Pletcher & Toby J. Underwood, 2012, Electrochimica Acta, 69, 197-202
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2012.02.093
Type: article
TEMPO-mediated electrooxidation of primary and secondary alcohols in a microfluidic electrolytic cell
Joseph T. Hill-Cousins, Jekaterina Kuleshova, Robert A. Green, Peter R. Birkin, Derek Pletcher, Toby J. Underwood, Stuart G. Leach & Richard C.D. Brown, 2012, ChemSusChem, 5(2), 326-331
DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201100601
Type: article
A simple and inexpensive microfluidic electrolysis cell
Jekaterina Kuleshova, Joseph T. Hill-Cousins, Peter R. Birkin, Richard C.D. Brown, Derek Pletcher & Toby J. Underwood, 2011, Electrochimica Acta, 56(11), 4322-4326
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2011.01.036
Type: article