Diazomethane is a valuable C1-building block for organic synthesis. Due to its intrinsic reactivity and instability, handling of this reagent is associated with serious safety hazards. Herein we present a… Click to show full abstract
Diazomethane is a valuable C1-building block for organic synthesis. Due to its intrinsic reactivity and instability, handling of this reagent is associated with serious safety hazards. Herein we present a simple and robust continuous flow process, allowing a safe and on-demand generation of diazomethane with a productivity of 95–117 mmol h−1. The developed two-step process starts from non-hazardous N-methylurea, and generates and consumes N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) and diazomethane, thus enabling a safe and convenient scale-up to a multi-gram scale in a conventional synthesis laboratory.
               
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