Synthesis of Bicyclic Esters in a Continuous‐Flow Microreactor

Abstract The continuous‐flow microreactor technique for the synthesis of bicyclic esters is reported in this paper. The synthesis time of bicyclic esters can be greatly shortened by the continuous‐flow technique, and the advantage of continuous‐flow microreactor is analyzed theoretically. Taking the synthesis of bicyclo[2,2,1]‐5‐hepten‐2‐methyl ester as an example, the molar ratio between cyclopentadiene (A) and methyl acrylate (B) is 1.1 to 1, the temperature is 353 K, the reaction time is 335 s, the yield reached 96.7% in a continuous‐flow microreactor. However, it takes 4.5 hours to synthesize the compound within batch reaction, and the yield is 93%. It is of significant to change the batch reaction into continuous production both in the laboratory and industrial production.