Abstract
We use two 3D-printing platforms as solid- and liquid-handling fabricators, producing sealed reactionware for chemical synthesis with the reagents, catalysts and purification apparatus integrated into monolithic devices. Using this reactionware, a multi-step reaction sequence was performed by simply rotating the device so that the reaction mixture flowed through successive environments under gravity, without the need for any pumps or liquid-handling prior to product retrieval from the reactionware in a pure form.
Highlights
We use two 3D-printing platforms as solid- and liquid-handling fabricators, producing sealed reactionware for chemical synthesis with the reagents, catalysts and purification apparatus integrated into monolithic devices
To perform this sequence of transformations, the reactors were designed with three reaction chambers, one for each of the successive stages in the sequence, with the reaction mixture being transferred from chamber to chamber upon the completion of each reaction step by rotating the device
Two device designs were realised; one in which the reactor was open to the environment, allowing the introduction of reaction starting materials and reagents at various points in the process, and one in which all the necessary materials were introduced into the device during the fabrication process, producing a selfcontained chemical reactor which included a short silica puri cation column
Summary
3D-printing is an emerging technology which promises to revolutionize many areas of manufacturing processes, transforming the relationships between the design, manufacture and operation of functional devices.[1,2] In recent years there has been considerable interest in 3D-printing technologies for large-scale industrial prototyping,[3] the production of tissue growth scaffolds[4,5,6,7,8,9] and biomimetic microvascular systems,[10,11] and the manufacture of bespoke electronic[12] and pneumatic devices.[13,14,15] 3D-printing could make a signi cant impact in the eld of chemical synthesis research and manufacturing, in particular because of the ease and economy with which bespoke reactors can be designed and compounds manufactured.
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