Scale-Up of Photochemical Reactions: Transitioning from Lab Scale to Industrial Production

Abstract

In the past two decades, we have witnessed a rapid emergence of new and powerful photochemical and photocatalytic synthetic methods. Although these methods have been used mostly on a small scale, there is a growing need for efficient scale-up of photochemistry in the chemical industry. This review summarizes and contextualizes the advancements made in the past decade regarding the scale-up of photo-mediated synthetic transformations. Simple scale-up concepts and important fundamental photochemical laws have been provided along with a discussion concerning suitable reactor designs that should facilitate scale-up of this challenging class of organic reactions.

Keywords: flow chemistry; numbering up; photocatalysis; photochemistry; scale-up; sizing up.