Abstract

We describe a simple method for the direct inline separation of two immiscible liquids based on the selective wetting and permeation of a porous polytetrafluoroethylene capillary by one of the liquids. Using water dispersed in fluorous carrier fluid as a test system, quantitative recovery of the water from the carrier fluid is achieved over a wide range of flow conditions, with no contamination by the fluorous component even when present in large (ten-fold) excess. The exiting water stream may be readily redispersed by injecting additional carrier fluid downstream, allowing for repeated switching between the segmented and continuous flow regimes – a critical requirement for multistep chemical processing. The separator is shown to simplify in-line sample analysis by allowing measurements to be carried out quasi-statically without the need for fast instrumentation synchronised to the segmented water flow.

Highlights

  • We describe a simple method for the direct inline separation of two immiscible liquids based on the selective wetting and permeation of a porous polytetrafluoroethylene capillary by one of the liquids

  • A photograph showing the segmented ow before the separator, the pure aqueous ow a er the separator, and the new segmented ow a er the secondary injection of carrier uid is provided in Fig. 5, and a video of the same is provided in Electronic supplementary information (ESI) Video 1.† It is worth emphasising that the generation of a timeinvariant segmented ow is possible only when the solvent and carrier enter the inlets of the droplet generator under steady-state k Due to its circular cross section, the effective path length of the capillary is somewhat smaller than its inner diameter of 1 Æ 0.01 mm

  • In conclusion we have demonstrated the use of a porous PTFE capillary as a simple passive component for separating two immiscible liquids in the segmented ow regime

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Summary

Introduction

We note that the general progress of segmented ow microchemistry has been hindered by the scarcity of simple and effective methods for achieving rapid in-line liquid–liquid phase separation.[8,9,10] The fast and efficient separation of a solvent from a carrier is a critical step in many microscale synthetic and analytic processes.

Results
Conclusion

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