Gas-Liquid Segmented Flow Microfluidics for Screening Copper/TEMPO-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Primary Alcohols

Aerobic oxidation using a combination of copper salts and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine N-oxyl (TEMPO) represent useful tools for organic synthesis and several closely related catalyst systems have been reported. To gain further insights, these catalytic systems were evaluated in a gas-liquid segmented flow device. The improvement of oxygen mass transfer has a significant influence on the turnover-limiting step. Hence, an improved catalytic system using copper(II) as copper source was implemented in a microreactor for the safe and efficient oxidation of primary alcohol.