Continuous synthesis of Gabapentin with a microreaction system

•Hofmann rearrangement was achieved continuously by one-step microreaction process.•An apparent kinetic model was proposed to optimize the operation conditions.•The concentration of NaOH has a smaller effect than NaClO on the reaction rate.

In this paper, a microreaction system was developed to intensify the synthesis process of Gabapentin. Due to the high mass and heat transfer performance, Hofmann rearrangement can be achieved continuously by one-step microreaction process at relatively high temperature (40-45 °C) with a residence time (5-7 min) much shorter than the conventional 4-5 h in batch reactors. By studying the effects of concentration and temperature on the reaction rate, an apparent kinetic model was developed to help understanding the whole process deeply and optimizing the operation conditions.