Efficient synthesis of Vitamin D3 in a 3D ultraviolet photochemical microreactor fabricated using an ultrafast laser

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel 3D microreactor fabricated with ultrafast laser technology, enabling efficient, continuous-flow UV photochemical synthesis of vitamin D3 with low energy use.

Contribution

The study introduces a new method for fabricating transparent 3D microchannels in fused silica for UV photochemistry, improving mixing and efficiency.

Findings

High transparency of microreactors under UV light below 300 nm

Successful continuous-flow synthesis of vitamin D3

Low power consumption of UV sources during synthesis

Abstract

Large-scale, high-precision, and high-transparency microchannels hold great potential for developing high-performance continuous-flow photochemical reactions. We demonstrate ultrafast laser-enabled fabrication of 3D microchannel reactors in ultraviolet (UV) grade fused silica which exhibit high transparency under the illumination of UV light sources of wavelengths well below 300 nm with excellent mixing efficiency. With the fabricated glass microchannel reactors, we demonstrate continuous-flow UV photochemical synthesis of vitamin D3 with low power consumption of the UV light sources.