RS Fellow - EPSRC grant (2016): Realising the Automated Materials Synthesiser

高通量筛选（HTS）是一种“加速的偶然发现”方法，通过并行批次进行大量实验，更快地找到材料的突破。然而，如果新材料是有用的，它们必须是可扩展的，廉价的和可再生的。这是一个主要的障碍，因为批量条件可能难以以合理的成本扩大规模：通常很难从筛选机器人上的“命中”到大规模产品。连续流动化学通过减少反应时间、提高产率、简化放大并具有优异的再现性，具有解决这些问题的未开发潜力。该项目的重点是合并流动化学和材料科学领域，将新的高性能材料推向市场。通过最初关注超分子材料-即由离散分子而不是扩展框架制成的材料-自组装和结晶将在流动中受到控制，从而定制所得材料的特性。该项目的一个强有力的主题将是算法和分析的集成，以自动优化流程合成，耦合合成，纯化，分析和自动化。

High throughput screening (HTS) is an 'accelerated serendipity' approach to find breakthroughs in materials faster by carrying out large numbers of experiments in parallel batches. However, if new materials are to be useful, they must be scalable, cheap, and reproducible. This is a major stumbling block, as batch conditions can be hard to scale up at reasonable cost: it is often difficult to get from the 'hit' on the screening robot to a large scale product. Continuous flow chemistry holds untapped potential to solve these issues by reducing reaction times, increasing yield, and simplifying scale up with excellent reproducibility. The focus of this project is to merge the fields of flow chemistry and materials science to bring new high-performance materials to market. By focusing initially on supramolecular materials - that is, materials made of discrete molecules, not extended frameworks -self-assembly and crystallisation will be controlled in flow, tailoring the properties of the resultant materials. A strong theme of the project will be the integration of algorithms and analysis to automatically optimise flow synthesis, coupling synthesis, purification, analysis, and automation.