Research

For the past five to ten years the focus of the Kappe research group has been directed towards flow chemistry/microreaction technology, encompassing a wide variety of synthetic transformations and experimental techniques. Notably, these include handling hazardous, toxic and/or unstable reagents and gases in flow environments (e.g., H₂, O₃, O₂, ¹O₂, H₂O₂, peroxides, CO, CO₂, HN₃, CH₂N₂, N₂H₄), many times in extreme temperature and pressure regimes reaching the near- or supercritical state. Flow processing has been executed both in monophasic or multiphasic (i.e., liquid/liquid, gas/liquid, gas/liquid/solid) flow regimes using a range of reactor designs, and utilizing membrane separation techniques, particularly towards the multistep synthesis of APIs. The group additionally has experience in flow photochemistry, nanoparticle and quantum dot synthesis in flow, and operating microwave-heated flow devices.

Many of the above-mentioned flow chemistry projects have been performed in close collaboration between chemists, chemical engineers and process chemists, involving both academic and industrial partners. These endeavors have resulted in ~100 publications (and several patents) in the past decade, many of them in collaboration with industrial partners such as Lonza, Patheon, Microinnova, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Noramco, Bayer Pharma or BASF.

The Kappe research laboratories occupies 400 m² of well-equipped fully renovated laboratory space at the Institute of Chemistry (IfC) at the University of Graz, sufficient to accommodate ~25 researchers to have bench and office space.  The group is well-equipped with all standard analytical instrumentation for performing state-of-the-art organic synthesis.