A Scalable Membrane Pervaporation Approach for Continuous Flow Olefin Metathesis

Article
Continuous flow
Drug substance

The translation of olefin metathesis reactions from the laboratory to process scale has, historically, been challenging with traditional batch techniques due to mass-transport limitations that negatively influence the efficiency of the transformation in batch vessels.

In this article, we describe how we, in collaboration with Compact Membrane Systems, designed and built a continuous membrane reactor to selectively permeate the ethylene byproduct from metathetical processes. We explain how the membrane sheet-in-frame pervaporation module yielded turnover numbers of >7500 in the case of diethyl diallylmalonate ring-closing metathesis. The preparation of more challenging, low-effective-molarity substrates, a cyclooctene and a 14-membered macrocyclic lactone, was also effective using this method. When we compared the optimal membrane reactor conditions to a sealed tubular reactor, we revealed that the benefits of ethylene removal are most apparent at low reaction concentrations.

Read the entire article, “A Scalable Membrane Pervaporation Approach for Continuous Flow Olefin Metathesis,” to learn more about our novel approach for the translation of olefin metathesis using a scalable continuous membrane reactor.

View the full article (via ACS Publications)