A Palladium Wall Coated Microcapillary Reactor for Use in Continuous Flow Transfer Hydrogenation

Herein we describe the preparation of a novel continuous flow multi-channel microreactor in which the internal surface has been functionalised with a palladium coating, enabling its use in catalytic heterogeneous liquid-phase reactions. Simple chemical deposition techniques were used to immobilise palladium(0) on the channel wall surface of a polymeric multi-capillary extrudate made from ethylenevinyl alcohol copolymer. The Pd coating of the microcapillaries has been characterised by mass spectrometry and light and electron microscopy. The functional activity of the catalytic Pd layer was tested in a series of transfer hydrogenation reactions using triethylsilane as the hydrogen source.