Martin Johnson, Chemical Process Research & Development, Eli Lilly &Co., Inc., 1400 W. Raymond St., Indianapolis, IN 46221
A continuous Newman Kwart rearrangement was conducted in a thermal tube reactor in supercritical DME at 300 degrees C and 1000 psig. This process offered significant safety advantages compared to the previous batch process, speed to scale up, selectivity, and yield. Compound was produced at a rate of 50 g/h for early phase delivery.