Flow Chemistry topics

The research activity aims at developing sustainable synthetic processes for the synthesis of biologically active compounds, APIs or their intermediates by exploiting enabling technologies, in particular flow chemistry, (bio)catalysis, new solvent systems and solid supported reagents and scavengers. 

Starting from natural materials, also recovered from waste such as agro-food residues and by-products, we exploit the potential of flow chemistry facilities for the generation of added-value bioactive compounds for food, pharma, nutraceutical and cosmetic applications. Our aim is to use flow chemistry to improve the reaction efficiency, to perform efficiently heterogeneous reactions (gas/liquid or solid/liquid) and to perform multistep reaction sequences and purifications in an automated fashion without intermediate handling. 

Current research topics are: 

• Lipophilization of natural bioactives, e.g. phenols, polyphenols, glicosides, as potential antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. 
• Telescoped multi-step synthesis and in-line purification of high value N-containing heterocyclic scaffolds.
• Sustainable synthesis of novel sugar-based surfactants. 
• Synthesis of nature-inspired mitochondria-targeted phenolic derivatives as potential neuroprotective agents.