Quinones possess interesting redox properties that are useful to industries such as hydrogen peroxide production. They are also good electrophiles in synthesis and common structural motifs found in natural products. However, when performed on larger scales, the oxidation of phenols and naphthols via gaseous oxygen and a metal catalyst becomes less efficient, due to poor gas-liquid mixing. A continuous flow set up offers both an increased surface to volume ratio for better mixing in gas-liquid reactions and greater control over the reaction parameters, which has the effect of improving reaction efficiency and reproducibility. Continuous flow was used to synthesize quinones via metal catalyzed oxidation of phenols. The syntheses were carried out in <i>N,N</i>’- dimethylformamide, using Co-salen as a metal catalyst; additionally, several quinones were synthesized in flow using a variety of phenols and naphthols. The flow system was then utilized to investigate the synthesis of heterocycles and other compounds from quinones generated <i>in situ</i>.

Progress toward quinone and heterocycle synthesis using continuous flow

2019 Spring National Meeting

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