The electrochemical micro reactor described in Lowe et al. (WO0015872, DE 19841302) has shown high selectivity and conversion (IMRET3: Microreaction Technology: Industrial Processes, Springer, Berlin, (1998) 136). In an advanced application it is to be coupled to a continuous chromatographic separation process which uses a simulated moving bed (SMB) (Ishikawa et al., US4182633, 19/12/1977). This combination is expected to make continuous flow syntheses economical even with lower yield reactions, simultaneously leading to purified products. For this application, a divided electrochemical micro cell reactor was designed, fabricated and tested. Per electrode plane it uses an electrode area of 114 cm(2) carrying 75 parallel micro channels with a channel-length of 189 mm on electrodes sized 189 x 98 mm(2). The reactor design allows the use of either divided or combined cells operated in bipolar or monopolar mode. The design consists of layered independent cell-modules and is therefore highly extendible and versatile in the choice of electrode materials. To implement the reactor in the reactor/SMB-purification system, the new design requires a pressure tightness at about 30 bar at flow rates of some 10 ml min(-1) and no limitations regarding the solvents. Due to possibly extreme chemical conditions, resistive materials have to be used such as polyether-etherketone (PEEK) for the micro channel foils. This publication outlines the recent development and current state of the electrochemical micro reactor for electroorganic synthesis. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
