ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the chromatographic reactor with other standard reactors, illustrates how it can be useful for preparative purposes, and on the basis of some laboratory results suggest attractive directions for further developments. The limitation is that reactions under consideration must be reviewed and found to be adaptable to chromatographic reactor operations as well as conventional preparative procedures which might include trapping. Chromatographic reactors operating with concerted reaction and separation have also been shown to provide higher reaction yields and sometimes special selectivity advantageously. The chromatographic reactor where applicable can provide relatively pure product that can be used on site, transferred to another reactor for further transformation, or recovered for subsequent use. Utilization of the chromatographic reactor for the preparation of unstable reagents for immediate use in the laboratory is already attractive, especially for synthetic operations on a limited scale.
