Investigation of chemical reactions in femtoliter-volume droplets

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Professor Daniel T. Chiu of the University of Washington is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry to study chemical reactions in femtoliter-volume droplets. Surfactants with varying concentrations, immiscible oils, and interior solute ionic strength will be varied and tested to determine their exact effects on droplets. The experimental information obtained will be used to synthesize a model to allow prediction of droplet confined chemical reactions, and how they are affected by the choice of surfactant and immiscible oil as well as the concentration and ionic strength of the solutes contained within the droplet. While droplet microfluidics are beginning to find broad use in diverse areas, such as biological assays, protein crystallization, DNA sequencing, and chemical synthesis, the fundamentals of chemistry in droplets, in particular, how the high surface-to-volume ratio environment affects the chemistry, is still relatively unexplored. Students will be trained in interfacial chemistry as well as microfluidics and cutting-edge optical techniques for manipulating and analyzing the contents of droplets. The predictive model and associated software will be made available on the PI's laboratory website.