Flow chemistry articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

  • Article |

    The controlled functionalization of multihydrosilanes is challenging. Now, using a hydrogen-atom-transfer photocatalyst based on neutral eosin Y, a method for the diverse functionalization of hydrosilanes has been developed, enabling the stepwise on-demand decoration of silicon atoms. This approach is distinguished by its atom-, step-, redox- and catalyst-economy, metal-free nature, its versatility (>150 examples), modularity, selectivity and scalability.

    • Xuanzi Fan
    • , Muliang Zhang
    •  & Jie Wu

  • News & Views |

    Small-molecule drug discovery and development is limited by the ability of chemists to readily synthesize and purify new compounds with suitable chemical diversity. Now, a new twist on solid-phase chemical synthesis has enabled rapid and simplified synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant small molecules.

    • Mark S. Kerr
    •  & Kevin P. Cole

  • Article |

    Although strategies for the automated assembly of compounds of pharmaceutical relevance is a growing field of research, the synthesis of small-molecule pharmacophores remains a predominantly manual process. Now, an automated six-step synthesis of prexasertib is achieved by multistep solid-phase chemistry in a continuous-flow fashion using a chemical recipe file that enables automated scaffold modification through both early and late-stage diversification.

    • Chenguang Liu
    • , Jiaxun Xie
    •  & Jie Wu

  • Article |

    Parallel kinetic resolution (PKR) of N-heterocycles via asymmetric acylation has been achieved using quasienantiomers of polymer supported hydroxamic acid reagents. Flow techniques provide physical separation of the reagents, establishing a practical implementation of PKR. The enantioenriched amide products can be readily deprotected to reveal the desired amine without detectable epimerization.

    • Imants Kreituss
    •  & Jeffrey W. Bode

  • Article |

    The ability to form multiple carbon–carbon bonds in a controlled sequence represents an important goal in modern chemical synthesis. Here, the in situ preparation of reactive allylic and benzylic boronic acids, obtained by reacting flow-generated diazo compounds with boronic acids, and their application in controlled iterative C–C bond forming reactions is described.

    • Claudio Battilocchio
    • , Florian Feist
    •  & Steven V. Ley

  • News & Views |

    Flow chemistry has grown in stature as a technique with the potential to deliver synthetic complexity with assembly-line-like efficiency. Application of flow technology to the front-line antimalarial drug artemisinin promises to revolutionalize treatment.

    • Kevin Booker-Milburn

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