Deep eutectic solvents as reaction media for chemoenzymatic cascades in continuous flow

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Solvents tend to dominate the mass balance of manufacturing processes for fine chemicals and a large portion of their use is dedicated to intensive purification procedures. One of the major advantages of flow chemistry is the ability to perform multistep synthesis in a single continuous process which eliminates the need to purify intermediates. The combination of chemical catalysis and enzymatic catalysis in continuous flow has potential to realise unique processes for complex molecules and will be a key contributor for industry meeting net zero challenges. However, seamlessly telescoping these two forms of catalysis is difficult due to their divergent reaction conditions as chemical catalysis is typically performed in organic solvents and enzymatic catalysis often requires an aqueous environment. Deep eutectic solvents (DES) have arisen as reaction media that is mutually compatible with both chemo- and bio-catalysis and may enable new chemoenzymatic cascades to be developed in continuous flow. Additionally, DES are immiscible with most organic solvents which can be used to extract the products from the reaction mixture and allow the DES to be recycled in future reactions. This project focuses on the application of DES to facilitate chemoenzymatic cascades in continuous flow and will explore the use of inline purification technology such as liquid-liquid separators to recycle the DES throughout the process. It is envisaged the combination of multistep continuous flow synthesis and solvent recycling will lead to more sustainable processes for complex products.