Synlett 2005(20): 3163-3165  
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-922763
LETTER
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

The Claisen-Schmidt Reaction Carried Out in Microfluidic Chips

Jin-Xia Mu, Xue-Feng Yin*, Yan-Guang Wang
Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, P. R. of China
Fax: +86(571)87952070; e-Mail: yinxf@zju.edu.cn;
Further Information

Publication History

Received 2 August 2005
Publication Date:
28 November 2005 (online)

Abstract

The Claisen-Schmidt reaction of benzaldehyde in a microfluidic chip has been found to be more efficient than that in a round-bottom flask with vigorous stirring. Slug flow was formed when the organic and aqueous phases were introduced through the microchannel with a width of 300 µm, which provides faster mass transfer than laminar flow.

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General Procedure.
Benzaldehyde (1 mmol), acetone (4 mmol), EtOH (1.0 mL) and aqueous NaOH (0.5 M, 1.0 mL) were placed in a 10-mL round-bottomed flask and stirred at ambient temperature under a N2 atmosphere. After stirring for period indicated in Figure [2] , the reaction was quenched with HCl (0.5 M, 1 mL). The organic layer was separated and the aqueous layer was extracted with Et2O (3 × 2 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with H2O (5 mL) and dried with Na2SO4. The solvent was removed to give benzylidineacetone. The conversion of each period is cited in Figure [2] .