Small-Scale, Loop-Based Chemical Separations and In-line Sampling Employing Magnetoelectrochemical Methods

本项目由化学学部化学测量与成像项目资助。阿肯色大学的Ingrid Fritsch教授正在开发一种快速、通用的方法，用于筛选超小体积生物相关化学物质的粗合成混合物的成分。这种化学分离的新方法不需要高压也不需要高压。它还可以最大限度地减少费用并提高可移植性。为了应对这些分离挑战，在分离系统中使用磁铁和电来推动流体混合物。该系统本质上是一个无限延伸的循环，分析物在其中被分离。每个组件都以可编程的方式被移除，因为它从其他组件中分离出来，因此分离条件可以针对其余部分进行优化。这种方法为药物设计提供了机会，并对药物设计具有经济影响，例如多肽疗法和其他医疗、制药和环境用途感兴趣的化学产品。在与高中教师的外展合作中，一个由学生为学生开发的自给自足的夏季科学研讨会，重点关注研究项目中的概念，同时突出科学的个性化和人性化。在这个项目中，正在开发小型高效化学分离，能够“即时”编程柱长。在基于回路的微流体通道中，结合超灵敏的原位分离检测，确定了治疗肽混合物的最佳分离效率条件。互补荧光技术被使用，包括全内反射、宽视场成像和荧光相关光谱。在线采样方法可以近实时监测和调整分离。此外，三维数值模拟可以更好地理解实验结果，并为提高效率提供设计建议。阿肯色大学的工作人员与一所公立高中哈斯霍尔学院合作，发起并培养了一个自我维持的为期一周的夏季科学研讨会。在与高中教师的外展伙伴关系中，一个自给自足的夏季科学讲习班正在开发中。对社会的更广泛的影响包括通过筛选少量合成混合物以最小的费用促进治疗肽药物的设计和开发。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the Chemistry Division. Professor Ingrid Fritsch of the University of Arkansas is developing a fast and versatile approach for screening components of crude synthetic mixtures of biologically-relevant chemicals in ultrasmall volumes. This new approach to chemical separations does not require high pressures nor high voltages. It also minimizes expense and improves portability. To meet these separation challenges, magnets and electricity are used to propel the fluid mixtures in the separation system. The system is essentially an indefinitely extended loop where analytes are separated. Each component is removed in a programmable fashion as it pulls away from the others so that separation conditions can be optimized for the rest. This approach advances opportunities for and has economic bearing on drug design, such as in peptide therapeutics, and other chemical products of interest for medical, pharmaceutical, and environmental uses. In an outreach partnership with High School teachers, a self-sustaining summer science workshop, developed by students, for students, focuses on concepts in the research project while highlighting the personalization and humanization of the science.In this project, high-efficiency chemical separations at the small scale with the ability to program column length "on-the-fly" are being developed. Magnetoelectrochemical pumping in loop-based microfluidic channels, combined with ultrasensitive in situ detection of separations, determine conditions for the best separation efficiencies of mixtures focused on therapeutic peptides. Complementary fluorescence techniques are used, including total internal reflection, wide field imaging, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. An in-line sampling approach enables near real-time monitoring and tuning of separations. In addition, numerical simulations in three dimensions provide a better understanding of experimental results and suggest designs for improved efficiencies. Personnel at the University of Arkansas partner with a public high school, Haas Hall Academy to initiate and foster a self-sustaining week long summer science workshop. In an outreach partnership with High School teachers, a self-sustaining summer science workshop is under development. Broader impacts to society include facilitation of therapeutic peptide drug design and development through the screening of small quantities of synthetic mixtures with minimal expense.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.