When you break it down, flow chemistry is not as scary a prospect as it might seem. Photos in your favorite chemistry magazine may make it look complex, but all you really need is a pump, some tubes, and a mixing junction.

With the introduction of flow chemistry systems, chemists now have more choice available to them for performing their chemistry, and it’s important to understand whether batch or flow techniques are best for their specific applications.

Researchers at the Department of Pharmacy (University of Bari, Italy) have demonstrated a sustainable, versatile, fast, and environmentally friendly CBS-asymmetric reduction of aryl and heteroaryl ketones using flow technologies.

One of the biggest challenges of becoming invested in flow chemistry is often the thought of taking time integrating and developing brand new chemical reactions, but this is, in fact, one of the largest benefits of using flow chemistry.

Flow chemistry methods can often give cleaner reactions, increased cost efficiency, and ease of work-up. I wanted to demonstrate an easy-to-use, safe, continuous method for the introduction of reactive gases in a liquid/gas plug-flow method under anhydrous conditions – watch my video to see how!