Nanostructured Carbon Nitride for Continuous-Flow Trifluoromethylation of (Hetero)arenes

Efficient catalytic methods for the trifluoromethylation of (hetero)arenes are of particular importance in organic and pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, many existing protocols rely on toxic reagents and expensive or sterically hindered homogeneous catalysts. One promising alternative to conduct this transformation involves the use of carbon nitride, a non-toxic photocatalyst prepared from inexpensive precursors. Nonetheless, there is still little understanding regarding the interplay between physicochemical features of this photocatalyst and the corresponding effects on the reaction rate. In this work, we elucidate the role of carbon nitride nanostructuring on the catalytic performance, understanding the effect of surface area and band gap tuning via metal insertion. Our findings provide new insights into the structure-function relationships of the catalyst, which we exploit to design a continuous-flow process that maximizes catalyst-light interaction, facilitates catalyst reusability, and enables intensified reaction scale-up. This is particularly significant given that photocatalyzed batch protocols often face challenges during industrial exploitation. Finally, we extrapolate the rapid and simplified continuous-flow method to the synthesis of a variety of functionalized heteroaromatics, which have numerous applications in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries.