In a total residence time of three minutes, ibuprofen was assembled from its elementary building blocks with an average yield of above 90 % for each step. A scale-up of this five-stage process (3 bond-forming steps, one work-up, and one in-line liquid–liquid separation) provided ibuprofen at a rate of 8.09 g h−1 (equivalent to 70.8 kg y−1) using a system with an overall footprint of half the size of a standard laboratory fume hood. Aside from the high throughput, several other aspects of this synthesis expand the capabilities of continuous-flow processing, including a Friedel–Crafts acylation run under neat conditions and promoted by AlCl3, an exothermic in-line quench of high concentrations of precipitation-prone AlCl3, liquid–liquid separations run at or above 200 psi to provide solvent-free product, and the use of highly aggressive oxidants, such as iodine monochloride. The use of simple, inexpensive, and readily available reagents thus affords a practical synthesis of this important generic pharmaceutical.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• API

1. AlCl3
2. API
3. continuous flow
4. Friedel–Crafts acylation
5. ibuprofen
6. liquid-liquid separation
7. Research Article
8. Scale-up