2015 年 73 巻 5 号 p. 512-520
Attention to microreactors and flow reaction technologies, in both academia and industry, has noticeably increased over the past decade. Although a large number of chemical reactions suitable for microstructured devices have been reported, there still exists a gap between laboratory and production scale. This review focuses on the use of microreactors in synthetic organic chemistry, aiming toward the production of chemical and pharmaceutical entities, through a survey of patents and other open information. The global movement of microreaction technologies is also discussed, from a viewpoint of the number of research articles and patent applications published worldwide. The goal of the present review is to provide an overview of the process development and scale-up studies in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and to illustrate an outlook for continuous-flow manufacturing as a cost effective, safe, green, and sustainable production method.