Insights into the synthesis of NHC-stabilized Au nanoclusters through real-time reaction monitoring.

Atomically precise gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) are interesting nanomaterials with potential applications in catalysis, bioimaging and optoelectronics. Their compositions and properties are commonly evaluated by various analytical techniques, including UV-vis spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, ESI mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. While these techniques have provided detailed insights into the structure and properties of nanoclusters, synthetic methods still suffer from a lack of and real-time reaction monitoring methodologies.

Enantioselective synthesis of (-)-tetrabenazine continuous crystallization-induced diastereomer transformation.

A multi-well continuous CIDT approach with inline racemization of the solution phase is presented. Using two in-house built PATs and a flow reactor, we were able to successfully crystallize an enantiopure salt of TBZ, the active metabolite of the tardive dyskinesia drug valbenazine. Despite discovering an undesired racemic solid phase, inline racemization combined with careful control of crystallization conditions allowed for multigram quantities of enantiopure material to be harvested using our setup.