Photo-induced ring-closure via a looped flow reactor

Abstract

Looped flow processes are an efficient and versatile tool to synthesize complex macromolecular materials. Especially for light-induced ring-closure reactions, which typically require low concentrations, looped flow processes are critical for upscaling. Here, such a reactor was designed to carry out a photo-induced ring-closure reaction via a photo-enol reaction for the synthesis of cyclic polymers, leading to a reduction of required solvent in the synthesis by over a factor of 40, hence giving access to a more economical and fully scalable process.