Organocatalysis Chemistry in Flow

The last decade has witnessed a huge growth in the use of flow chemistry as well established procedure for performing chemical transformations; indeed, under continuous flow conditions, more sustainable, safer and easier scalable processes could be developed with respect to conventional batch procedures. Organocatalysis has recently become an effective methodology for performing stereoselective reactions in continuo: metal-free catalytic processes could ensure high levels of enantioselectivity avoiding the contamination of final products with potentially toxic metal species. Since many academic research groups are focusing their efforts in this field, in the near future stereoselective catalytic flow processes could found a practical application in the manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and chiral intermediates. In the present review most recent examples of continuous flow processes employing organic molecules as catalysts will be discussed. A particular attention will be devoted to stereoselective reactions promoted by chiral organocatalysts under continuous flow conditions. Moreover, the great potential in combining flow stereoselective processes with solidsupported catalysis in catalytic reactors as well as with photoredox catalysis will be highlighted.