Plenary

Miquel A. Pericàs, University of Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona

Title: Asymmetric Flow Processes Based on Immobilized Catalysts: Facing the Challenge of Deactivation

Miquel A. Pericàs was born in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) in 1951. In 2000 he was appointed as the Founding Director of the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), a position he held until September 2020. He is now an “ad honorem” professor at Universitat Rovira i Virgili and a permanent academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona.

The major research interest of Miquel A. Pericàs has been focused on enantioselective catalysis in batch and flow with immobilized species (340 peer reviewed publications, h index = 59).

Kaid C. Harper, AbbVie

Title: Abbvie’s Adventures in Scaling Electrochemistry

Kaid received a BS degree in Chemistry from Brigham Young University and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah with Matt Sigman where they developed multi-dimensional free energy relationships to guide asymmetric catalysis.  He then did a post-doc with Eric Jacobsen developing new hydrogen-bonding organocatalysts for stereoselective glycosylation reactions.  Kaid took a job at Abbvie in 2015 where he got his first exposure to flow working in the Center for Reaction Engineering.  He has since scaled 10 flow processes at various stages of development.  Kaid has also worked at applying flow chemistry to photochemistry as well as electrochemistry. 


Invited Speakers

Timothy Noël, University of Amsterdam

Title: Advancing Synthetic Organic Chemistry Through Technological Innovation

Timothy Noël studied Chemical Engineering in Ghent and obtained his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Ghent. Next, he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Stephen L. Buchwald. In 2012 he became an assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology where he was appointed associate professor in 2017. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the University of Amsterdam and Chair of Flow Chemistry at the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences. His research interests are synthetic organic chemistry and technology, and especially the delicate synergy between these two fields. He is the editor-in-chief of Journal of Flow Chemistry.

Marcus Baumann, University College Dublin

Title: From Improving Known Reactions to the Discovery of New Reactivity Exploiting Flow

After graduating from Philipps-University Marburg, Marcus Baumann moved to Cambridge for his Ph.D. with Prof. Steven Ley, where he focused on the development of new continuous flow approaches for important organic transformations and the synthesis of selected natural products. This was followed by a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Irvine, then with Prof. Ian R. Baxendale at the University of Durham, where he combined his interests in continuous flow technology and the synthesis of bioactive target molecules. In 2017, he joined University College Dublin as an Assistant Professor in Continuous Flow Chemistry, where he focused on new continuous flow methods, exploiting photochemistry, biocatalysis, and high-energy processes. He was promoted to Associate Professor in March 2023.

Hansjoerg Lehmann, Novartis

Title: Integrated Flow Synthesis, a Concept to Accelerate the Scale-up of Drug Candidates

Hansjoerg Lehmann received his PhD in 1991 in organic chemistry and started his industrial career in 1992 at Aventis as a Lab Head in agrochemical research. In 1997 he moved to the chemical process development as a technical project leader. In 2003, he joined the Prep-Labs of Novartis at where he was responsible for synthesis of intermediates and APIs on a 20 – 500 g scale for medicinal chemistry. For more than 14 years, he’s been active as expert for continuous flow chemistry, transferring scale-up projects from research to development.

Antimo Gioiello, University of Perugia

Title: Boosting Medicinal Chemistry by Flow-Enhanced Synthesis

Antimo Gioiello is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Perugia (Italy). Antimo has led academic and industrial collaborations and his work experience spans various stages of early drug discovery. His main research interests include the development of enabling synthesis for lead discovery and process optimization. He is co-founder of Tes Pharma and serves as President of the Società Chimica Italiana – Umbria. He has co-authored ca. 100 scientific papers and holds patents in steroid field.

Juan A. Rincon, Eli Lilly and Company

Title: Opening New Avenues for the Application of Flow Chemistry in Drug Discovery

Juan A. Rincón (Advisor-Research, Lilly) received his doctorate in Organic Chemistry at University of Valladolid and spent short stays at University of Cambridge (UK) with Prof. Ian Fleming. After his post-doctoral studies at the Organic Chemistry Institute (CSIC, Madrid) he joined Lilly (2002-present). He has sponsored multiple collaborations with key professors in the field of photochemistry and flow chemistry processes. He is author of more than 40 publications and one book chapter.

Jean-Christophe Monbaliu, University of Liege

Title: On the Synergy Between in silico Approaches and Flow

Jean-Christophe M. Monbaliu is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Liège (Belgium). He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Université catholique de Louvain (2008). After various postdoctoral experiences in Belgium (Ghent University) and in the USA (University of Florida and MIT), he settled at the University of Liège in 2013, where he created the Center for Integrated Technology and Organic Synthesis (CiTOS, www.citos.uliege.be). His research group combines new methodologies in synthetic organic chemistry with new process technologies for the development of innovative, sustainable and/or bio-based processes toward high value-added molecules. He serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Flow Chemistry since 2019.

Karen Robertson, University of Nottingham

Title: Flow Crystallisation: The Forbidden Phase

In 2018 Dr Robertson was awarded with an Anne McLaren Research Fellowship at the University of Nottingham where she is now an Assistant Professor. She is known for her work on integrating flow synthesis and flow crystallisation as well as in situ monitoring of crystallisation processes in flow environments; uncovering polymorphic transitions during the flow crystallisation of pharmaceuticals through Raman spectroscopy and powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction. In 2020 she was awarded the younger crystallographer of the year award by the British Crystallographic Association.

Dezső Horváth, University of Szeged

Title: Multiphase Flow-driven Reactions on Earth and in Microgravity

Dezso Horvath is a Professor of Chemistry and since 2020 the dean of the Faculty of Science and Informatics at the University of Szeged since. In 1990, he graduated with an excellent degree in chemistry and then began doctoral studies at West Virginia University in the United States, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1994. He was appointed as an associate professor at the Department of Physical Chemistry at the University of Szeged in 2004 and received his doctorate from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in chemistry in 2010. His scientific work began in the field of reaction kinetics and later expanded to chemical nonlinear dynamics. He currently studies the interaction of chemical reactions and transport processes using both experimental and theoretical methods.

Simon Kuhn, KU Leuven

Title: Multiphase Microfluidics to Intensify Photochemical Transformations

Simon Kuhn is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven where he has been a faculty member since 2014. Simon completed his PhD at ETH Zurich and his undergraduate studies at TU Munich. After a postdoctoral position at MIT, Simon joined University College London as assistant professor before moving to Leuven in 2014.
His research interests lie in Transport Processes and Reactions, with expertise centerd on experimental and computational aspects of transport limitations in chemical engineering applications, and their scale-up from lab to production scale.

C. Oliver Kappe, University of Graz

Title: Enhancing the Efficiency of Organometallic Transformations Using Microreaction Technology

C. Oliver Kappe is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Graz (Austria) and Scientific Director of the Center of Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processsing (CCFLOW) at RCPE GmbH. For the past decade the focus of his research has been directed towards flow chemistry/microreaction technology, encompassing a wide variety of synthetic transformations and experimental techniques. His research group is actively involved in projects dealing with API synthesis and manufacturing, employing a number of different enabling and process intensification strategies.

Carl Mallia, AstraZeneca

Title: Multi-Kilo Scale Synthesis of a Curtius Rearrangement for the Manufacture of Pharmaceutical Intermediates

After finishing his undergraduate and master’s degree at the University of Malta, Carl moved to Durham University in the United Kingdom where he completed his PhD with Prof Ian Baxendale focusing on continuous flow reactions using gases as reactants. Carl moved to AstraZeneca where he currently is an Associate Principal Scientist withing the Early Chemical Department. Carl typically leads the process chemistry development and manufacture of drug substances which are in Phase 1-2 including various continuous flow projects.

Rigoberto Advincula, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Title: Continuous Flow Chemistry and Polymerizations with AI/ML Strategies

Rigoberto “Gobet” Advincula is Governor’s Chair at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His areas of research include utilizing the structure and functionalities of materials on a near-atomic scale, characterizing and developing new materials sensors, optics, biotechnology, biomedicine, energy production, AI/ML driven flow chemistry polymerizations, and advanced manufacturing. Advincula previously served as a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering. In 2023, he was elected Fellow to the U.S. National Academy of Inventors (FNAI) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

Shu Kobayashi, University of Tokyo

Title: Heterogeneous Chiral Catalysts for Continuous-Flow Enantioselective Reactions

Shū Kobayashi studied at the University of Tokyo, receiving his PhD in 1988 under the direction of Professor T. Mukaiyama. He was promoted to lecturer then associate professor at Science University of Tokyo. In 1998, he moved to the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo, as full professor. In 2007, he was appointed to his current position as professor in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo. His research interests include the development of new synthetic methods and catalysts, organic reactions in water, organometallic chemistry, flow chemistry, and green and sustainable chemistry.

José Alemán, Autonomous University of Madrid

Title: Molecular Complexity Through Photocatalytic Processes

In 2006, José Alemán completed his Ph.D. in asymmetric synthesis and after a postdoctoral stay in organocatalysis with Prof. Jørgensen (2006-2008), he became a Ramón y Cajal researcher at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is full professor since 2023 and published over 200 papers, supervised numerous theses, and secured research grants, including a Consolidator Grant from the ERC. Since 2022, he’s been the director of the Institute Advanced of Chemistry at UAM.

Jörg Sedelmeier, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

Title: Taming Highly Energetic Materials with Flow Technologies to Enable API Supplies for Clinics and Beyond

Jörg Sedelmeier, born 1977 in Freiburg (Germany), studied synthetic organic chemistry at the Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg and conducted his PhD thesis in the group of Professor Bolm at the RWTH Aachen (Germany) in the field of sulfoximines and asymmetric metal catalysis. After a post-doctoral stay in Professor Ley’s group at University of Cambridge (UK) focusing on organic syntheses in continuous flow mode, he started his professional career as a process chemist at Novartis (Switzerland) in the Chemistry & Analytical Department in 2010. Here he was involved in process development, scale-up to pilot and plant scale, laboratory automation and continuous processing technologies. In 2017 Joerg became a Novartis Fellow. In 2019 he moved to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland) and is now platform leader for continuous processing technologies in Synthetic Molecules Technical Development. Jörg (co)-authored more than 33 publications and patents and won several company-internal science awards.

Dusan Boskovic, Fraunhofer ICT

Title: Flow Synthesis and Processing of High Energy Materials

Dusan Boskovic is a Chemical Engineer and received his PhD in 2010 from Technical University Ilmenau. He has been involved with micro process engineering at Fraunhofer ICT since more than 15 years and since 2016 he is leading the research group in the field of chemical processing technology. His main research interests include chemical syntheses by flow chemistry and micro process technology in single- and multiphase flow, process analytical technologies, and safe chemical processing of energetic and hazardous materials.

Jesús Alcázar, Janssen Cilag,S.A.

Title: Automated Synthesis in Flow to Access Novel Chemical Space

Jesús Alcázar studied in Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real where he got his bachelor degree in 1990 and Ph. D. in 1996. As Ph. D. student he stayed for 6 months at the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy (Copenhagen, Denmark) under the direction of Prof. Michael Begtrup. In 1995 he joined Janssen-Cilag at the research center in Toledo. Currently he is Senior Principal Scientist at Janssen Research and Development. In this position he is involved in the implementation of novel technologies in Drug Discovery in Toledo and in collaboration with other J&J sites worldwide. In this role he has led the successful implementation of 3 different technologies: microwave, H-CUBE and Flow chemistry, technologies that are currently a common tool at J&J worldwide.

Renzo Luisi, University of Bari

Title: Flow Photocatalysis for the Straightforward
Synthesis of Alcohols: A Linchpin in Polarity
Mismatch

Renzo Luisi is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Bari “A. Moro” – Italy. He graduated summa cum laude in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Bari (Italy) in 1996 and received the PhD in Chemical Sciences in 2000. He was appointed Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2005 and Full Professor in 2020. The main research interests rely on organometallic chemistry (mainly organolithium chemistry), Boron, Fluorine and Sulfur chemistry, synthesis and reactivity of small heterocycles, asymmetric synthesis, dynamic NMR spectroscopy. Recently, his research interests shifted towards sustainability in modern synthesis by using flow chemistry and enabling technologies.

Adam Clayton, University of Leeds

Title: Bayesian Self-Optimisation for Multistep Flow Processes and Mixed Variable Reactions

Adam completed a PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds under the supervision of Prof. Richard Bourne, where he focused on the development of multiobjective self-optimisation platforms. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Process Research and Development until 2022, when he was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. Adam’s research group focuses on advancing digital technologies to facilitate the development of multistep processes and integrated catalytic reactions.

Duncan L. Browne, University College London

Title: Reactive Exrusion: A Continuous Technique Where Solids are not the Arch-Nemesis

Duncan received his Ph.D. in organic synthesis from the University of Sheffield under the mentorship of Prof. Joseph P. A. Harrity (Syngenta, CASE). This was followed with a one year Doctoral Prize Fellowship from the EPSRC before moving in 2010 to the University of Cambridge for postdoctoral studies with Professor Steven V. Ley FRS CBE. In September 2014, Duncan established his independent research group at Cardiff University focussing on the use of enabling technologies for synthesis and catalysis. In 2019 he was recognised by both Green Chemistry and Reaction Chemistry and Engineering as an ‘Emerging Investigator’ and was a recipient of a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award. In 2019, Duncan was appointed as Associate Professor of Organic Synthesis and Drug Discovery at UCL (University College London).

Flash Presentations-Industrial Session

HNP Mikrosysteme – Carsten Damerau: About Dynamic Micromixing
Stoli Chem – Nikolay Cherkasov: CSTR Cascades – A Tool for Multipurpose Flow Chemistry
Magritek – Manuel Perez: Optimising Hydrogenations in Continuous Flow Reactors by Benchtop NMR Spectroscopy
Thalesnano – Nándor Kánya: Scale-up of Multi-step Reactions for API Production Using a Fleet of Flow Reactors Controlled by a Generative AI Supported Software 
Vapourtec – Manuel Nuno: Advances in continuous flow: Reactor technology, pumping capabilities and automation 
Syrris – Andrew Mansfield: Introducing the Syrris Photochemistry Reactor