Industrial applications Kolbe—Schmitt synthesis

There are many other approaches to industrial applications of flash chemistry, although available information is limited. Let us briefly touch on some examples. The Kolbe-Schmitt synthesis serves as a useful standard method to introduce a carboxyl group into phenols (Scheme 10.6). The Kolbe-Schmitt synthesis has been widely used in industry, and there are many variants of this transformation. Microflow systems can be used for conducting the Kolbe-Schmitt synthesis under aqueous high-pressure conditions.A decrease in reaction times by an order of magnitude (a few tens of seconds instead of minutes) and increase in space-time yields by orders of magnitude can be attained using a microflow system. For example, a microflow system composed of five parallel capillaries (inner volume 9 ml) has a productivity of 555 g/h, whereas the productivity of a macrobatch reactor (IL flask) is 28 g/h. 

The Kolbe-Schmitt reaction is limited to phenol, substituted phenols and certain heteroaromatics. The classical procedure is carried out by application of high pressure using carbon dioxide without solvent yields are often only moderate. In contrast to the minor importance on laboratory scale, the large scale process for the synthesis of salicylic acid is of great importance in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Despite the great industrial value of the formation of a C-C bond using CO2, the only industrial application is represented by the synthesis of 2(or 4)-hydroxy-benzoic acid, known for more than a century (Kolbe Schmitt reaction [lb]). This reaction has been reconsidered [57] using other substrates such as 1- and 2-naphthol or hydroxypyridines. 

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