Pressure and supercritical CO2 conditions improve the esterification reaction of phthalic anhydride with methanol in glass microreactors

We have developed a new microreactor platform for studying high pressure synthetic chemistry near/under supercritical conditions. A simple reaction, the esterification of phthalic anhydride with methanol, was studied at high pressures as well as under scCO2 conditions using a continuous flow glass microreactor. The unique design of this system is such that supercritical conditions can be generated in the microreactor, by controlling the pressure and temperature. The microreactor design allows to study the influence of different p,T-conditions on the rate constants in an easy way