How to choose types of glass reactor based on experimental temperature?

When selecting among the many types of glass reactor, the working temperature is the non-negotiable first criterion. All types of glass reactor share the advantage of full visual monitoring and universal chemical resistance, yet each has a different thermal ceiling imposed by the glass formulation, wall thickness and sealing technology. Below 120 °C, atmospheric types of glass reactor—ordinary borosilicate round-bottom flasks, jacketed beakers and standard single-wall types of glass reactor—are perfectly adequate; they need only a thermostatic water bath or silicone-oil circulator for stable control. Between 120 °C and 200 °C, the vapour pressure of common solvents rises sharply, so the chemist must move to vacuum-rated jacketed types of glass reactor equipped with mechanical stirring and a reflux condenser; these types of glass reactor use thick-walled borosilicate certified for ΔT = 110 °C and an external oil pre-heater to avoid thermal shock. Once the target temperature window reaches 230–250 °C, conventional borosilicate approaches its strain point; here, the safest laboratory choice is quartz or alumino-borosilicate types of glass reactor specifically annealed for 280 °C service, coupled with a metal heating mantle that compensates for the lower thermal conductivity of glass. Finally, for photocatalytic or UV-driven reactions that must be studied at 200–300 °C, specialized high-silica types of glass reactor with an external medium-pressure mercury lamp and forced-air cooling are used; these types of glass reactor keep the lamp housing below 40 °C while the reaction zone is maintained at 250 °C by a transparent ITO-coated heating film. In short, matching the experimental temperature to the certified thermal limit of each family of types of glass reactor guarantees both safe operation and reproducible kinetic data.