Continuous Flow Chemistry with Solids: A Review

The effective handling of solids in a continuous flow process is one of the biggest perceived challenges remaining for modern flow chemistry. This Review aims to consider some of the continuous processes for chemistries involving solids which have been successfully implemented. Learnings from the design of these systems, and identification of the common blockers, will guide a generalized, strategic approach to drive the efficiency of future batch-to-flow development for challenging, heterogeneous systems. Assorted techniques for managing solids in continuous-flow synthesis will be presented herein through a series of case studies, and broken down into several key categories; solubility considerations, setup components and modularity, applications of ultrasonication, reactor type and continuous Grignard reactions.