Microreactor technology and continuous flow processing in general are key features in making organic synthesis both more economical and environmentally friendly. When preformed under a high-temperature/pressure process intensification regime many transformations originally not considered suitable for flow synthesis owing to long reaction times can be converted into high-speed flow chemistry protocols that can operate at production-scale quantities.

The their Focus Review in Chemistry – An Asian Journal Tahseen Razzaq and C. Oliver Kappe, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, summarize the state of the art in high-temperature/pressure microreactor technology and provide a survey of successful applications of this technique from the recent synthetic organic chemistry literature.

• Continuous Flow Organic Synthesis under High-Temperature/Pressure Conditions
  T. Razzaq, C. O. Kappe,
  Chem. Asian J. 2010, 5, 1274 — 1289.
  DOI: 10.1002/asia.201000010