Multimode Photo-CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor) Setup for Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Processes

Abstract

Photocatalysis has been comprehensively applied to diverse valuable chemical transformations. However, photocatalytic processes have encountered obstacles in gaining wide acceptance in industry, primarily due to scale-up challenges, especially in heterogeneous systems involving equivalent amounts of solids. We designed a photo-continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) protocol for heterogeneous photocatalytic processes, which is capable of multiphasic processes with excellent adaptability. Furthermore, glass-wool-supported photocatalyst was successfully made, applied, and recycled at least 12 times without any decrease in hydroxylation of phenylboronic acid in reactivity, enabling gram scale synthesis with high efficiency in photo-CSTR.