Continuous Organic Synthesis in a Spinning Tube-in-Tube Reactor: TEMPO-Catalyzed Oxidation of Alcohols by Hypochlorite

Continuous production of aldehydes in high yields (≥90%) can be accomplished by feeding aqueous (sodium hypochlorite/sodium bicarbonate, pH 8.5) and organic (TEMPO/tetrabutylammonium bromide/primary alcohol/toluene or CH2Cl2) solutions through the inlets of a spinning tube-in-tube reactor (STT reactor manufactured by Kreido Biofuels [STT is a registered trademark of Kreido Biofuels]) at rotor speeds of 4000−6000 RPM with residence times as short as 1−2 min. This approach eliminates the need for slow addition of the bleach reagent to control this exothermic reaction.