Continuous Flow Reaction Setup

Here's a reaction that I set up awhile back in which I reacted a chloropyrimidine with an aniline to obtain the substitution product. The general reaction scheme is shown below. In this reaction acetonitrile is the solvent and the temperature in the reactor is 160 degrees Celsius, much higher than you could obtain in traditional flask-based chemistry where you're limited by acetonitrile's boiling point of 82 (unless you go sealed tube).

We sometimes use flow chemistry instruments to carry out our reactions in lab, and in this particular case I wanted to share because the experimental setup was unique and interesting (even if I'm biased to say so!). I explain it mostly in the video.

In general, most flow chemistry experiments are set up to dispense the product into a vial or bottle after exiting the reactor. In this case, I wanted to prolong the amount of reaction time and was limited in the number of coiled tube reactors that we have, so I hacked the setup to make it a continuous loop. That way I get the benefits of working in flow (increased temperatures and pressures) and I'm not constrained by residence time within the reactor.

Here's a link to the type of flow chemistry instrument that I used in this experiment: https://www.vapourtec.com/products/r-series-flow-chemistry-system-overview/.