A variety of organic reactions have been conducted efficiently in a few minutes in unsealed vessels at ambient pressure in unmodified microwave ovens by using selected organic solvents.
HIGHLY ACCELERATED REACTIONS IN A MICROWAVE OVEN : SYNTHESIS OF HETEROCYCLES
Efficient synthesis of a wide variety of heterocycles on 0.1 to 200 g scale was conducted in organic solvents in a commercial microwave oven in a few minutes at a low energy level.Erlenmeyer flasks were adequate reaction vessels since neither high pressure nor high temperature were involved.Fast monitoring of synthetic reactions was achieved by tlc separation and transfer of tlc spot material directly to a solids probe of a chemical ionization mass spectrometer.Microwave Oven-induced Reaction Enhancement (MORE) chemistry is not due to thermolysis: one reaction was conducted successfully in a reaction vial encased in a block of ice.