A single liquid-handling robotic platform for batch and flow chemistry applications

该项目将涉及反应器模块的设计、建造和集成，这些模块能够接收来自多个试剂储存库的流体，用于批量或流动合成化学实验。目前精细化学品的传统生产使用大型反应容器，在其中加入所有试剂，并根据需要搅拌和加热或冷却反应，以推动转化完成。由于各种原因，此类反应有时不能达到预设的规格，这被称为批次失败。在制药部门，这可能会给严重依赖构成药物的活性药物成分(API)的持续供应的患者带来灾难性的后果。因此，制药部门的目标产量是原料药实际年需求量的2.5倍，只是为了确保持续的供应。这种材料具有生物活性，如果不使用，必须仔细分解，这不仅是不必要的成本，还会引起健康和环境问题。流动化学被视为精细化工制造行业的未来，因为材料是不断生产的，但规模要小得多。因此，它更安全，消耗的能源更少，并且只产生所需的原料药材料。大多数情况下，在间歇反应器中对反应进行优化，然后进行修改以适应流水作业生产。不存在随时在这两种制造技术之间移动的平台。这项提议寻求用新的机器人反应器技术填补这一空白，该技术将允许在间歇反应和流动应用的过程优化之间随时来回移动。这将是颠覆性的技术，目前这个市场上没有任何产品。

The project will involve the design, construction and integration of reactor modules which are capable ofreceiving fluids from multiple reagent reservoirs for batch or flow synthetic chemistry experiments. Currentconventional manufacturing of fine chemicals uses large reaction vessels in which all the reagents are addedand the reaction stirred and heated or cooled as necessary to drive the transformations to completion. For avariety of reasons, such reactions can sometimes not reach preset specifications and this is referred to as a batchfailure. In the pharmaceutical sector, this can have catastrophic consequences for patients heavily reliant onconstant supply of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that makes up their drugs. As a consequence, thepharmaceutical sector targets the production of 2.5X the actual annual requirement of API, just to ensure aconstant supply. This material is biologically active and if not used, must then be carefully decomposed, whichis not only an unnecessary cost but raises health and environmental concerns. Flow chemistry is seen as thefuture of the fine chemical manufacturing sector as the material is made constantly, but on a much smallerscale. So, it is safer, consumes less energy, and only produces the amount of API material that is required. Mostoften, reactions have been optimized in batch reactors, and then are modified to suit production in flow. Thereexists no platform to readily move between these two manufacturing technologies. This proposal seeks to fillthis gap with new robotic reactor technology that will allow for the ready movement back and forth betweenprocess optimization for batch reactions and for flow applications. This will be disruptive technology and thereare presently zero products in this marketspace.