Highly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with boiling points (bp) around or below
room temperature are generally difficult to manipulate precisely in liquid-phase organic
reactions although they offer significant atom-economic advantages. We have developed
a novel approach using a jacketed syringe pump to enable the formylation of organolithium
species in a continuous-flow system under ambient pressure. Methyl formate (bp 32
°C) worked as a formylating agent and was successfully delivered to the continuous
operation for over 30 minutes in our microflow system. This methodology was successfully
expanded to the application of acetaldehyde (bp 21 °C) and heptafluoropropyl bromide
(bp 12 °C).
Key words
volatile organic compounds - organolithium species - flow chemistry - reactive intermediates
- device control