Application of 3D Printing Technology in Organic Synthetic Chemistry

Compared with traditional material removal-cutting method, 3D printing is a "bottom-up" material accumulation manufacturing technology. This novel technology is not only simple to operate, but also has a lower manufacturing cost and can be quickly generated. What's more, 3D printing technology can fabricate the be-spoke objects with intricate internal structures. Therefore, 3D printing has been a representative technology of the third industrial revolution. In recent years, chemists have combined 3D printing technology with organic synthesis and made many good achievements in the development of new multichannel heterogeneous catalysts and reaction devices, which has made this technology more and more widely used in the field of organic synthesis. In this review, the progress of the organic synthesis based on 3D printing technology from 2012 to 2018 are summarized, such as 3D-printed heterogeneous catalysts, 3D-printed devices and 3D-printed continuous flow microreactors. Furthermore, the development trends of this field in the future are also prospected.