Integrated 3D-printed reactionware for chemical synthesis and analysis

Nat Chem. 2012 Apr 15;4(5):349-54. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1313.

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has the potential to transform science and technology by creating bespoke, low-cost appliances that previously required dedicated facilities to make. An attractive, but unexplored, application is to use a 3D printer to initiate chemical reactions by printing the reagents directly into a 3D reactionware matrix, and so put reactionware design, construction and operation under digital control. Here, using a low-cost 3D printer and open-source design software we produced reactionware for organic and inorganic synthesis, which included printed-in catalysts and other architectures with printed-in components for electrochemical and spectroscopic analysis. This enabled reactions to be monitored in situ so that different reactionware architectures could be screened for their efficacy for a given process, with a digital feedback mechanism for device optimization. Furthermore, solely by modifying reactionware architecture, reaction outcomes can be altered. Taken together, this approach constitutes a relatively cheap, automated and reconfigurable chemical discovery platform that makes techniques from chemical engineering accessible to typical synthetic laboratories.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Automation
  • Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic / economics
  • Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic / instrumentation*
  • Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic / methods
  • Printing
  • Software

Associated data

  • PubChem-Substance/134964556
  • PubChem-Substance/134964557
  • PubChem-Substance/134964558