Parallel multi-droplet platform for reaction kinetics and optimization

• Published in: Chemical science (Cambridge) Vol. 14; no. 33; pp. 8798 - 8809
• Main Authors: Eyke, Natalie S, Schneider, Timo N, Jin, Brooke, Hart, Travis, Monfette, Sebastien, Hawkins, Joel M, Morse, Peter D, Howard, Roger M, Pfisterer, David M, Nandiwale, Kakasaheb Y, Jensen, Klavs F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 23-08-2023; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Algorithms; Chemistry; Continuity (mathematics); Droplets; Hardware; Optimization; Photochemical reactions; Reaction kinetics; Software
• ISSN: 2041-6520; 2041-6539
• DOI: 10.1039/d3sc02082g

We present an automated droplet reactor platform possessing parallel reactor channels and a scheduling algorithm that orchestrates all of the parallel hardware operations and ensures droplet integrity as well as overall efficiency. We design and incorporate all of the necessary hardware and software to enable the platform to be used to study both thermal and photochemical reactions. We incorporate a Bayesian optimization algorithm into the control software to enable reaction optimization over both categorical and continuous variables. We demonstrate the capabilities of both the preliminary single-channel and parallelized versions of the platform using a series of model thermal and photochemical reactions. We conduct a series of reaction optimization campaigns and demonstrate rapid acquisition of the data necessary to determine reaction kinetics. The platform is flexible in terms of use case: it can be used either to investigate reaction kinetics or to perform reaction optimization over a wide range of chemical domains.
This study develops an automated droplet-based reaction screening platform consisting of ten independent parallel reactor channels. Closed-loop reaction optimizations and a kinetics investigation demonstrate the platform's capabilities.