Methods of making (alk)acrylic esters in flow reactors

A method of making an (alk)acrylic ester comprising

• adding to a mixing chamber of a microflow reactor
• an alcohol,
• one or more bases that are sufficient to at least partially deprotonate the alcohol,
• a polar solvent,
• an (alk)acryloyl halide or a 3-haloalkylcarboxyl halide, and
• an organic solvent that is immiscible with the polar solvent in sufficient quantity to dissolve the (alk)acryloyl halide or a 3-haloalkylcarboxyl halide;
• wherein
• the molar flow ratio of the alcohol to the sum of all of the one or more bases is 1 to at least 1.1;
• and
• producing a product stream comprising one or more (alk)acrylic esters and one or more salts of the one or more bases;
• wherein
• the polar solvent added to the mixing chamber is sufficient to dissolve substantially all of the at one or more salts;
• and
• the product stream having an organic portion and a polar portion, the organic portion comprises the (alk)acrylic ester in an amount of at least 80 wt % based on the total weight of the solutes in the organic portion of the product stream.