Final Report Summary - MICRODROPCAT (Application of droplet-based microfluidics for the screening of supramolecular catalysts)
For this project we proposed to develop new methodologies to prepare and screen large libraries of homogeneous catalysts based on supramolecular (self-assembled) ligands using droplet-based microfluidics. Arrays of nanoliter-sized droplets containing complementary ligands will be merged together in a combinatorial fashion. These droplets will then be merged with a transition metal precusor to generate a 'catalytic' microdroplet. These 'catalytic' droplets will subsequently be merged with a stream of reactants to form a nanoliter-size reaction size vessel which will enable the catalytic activity of the self-assembled catalyst to be evaluated.
The MICRODROPCAT project proceeded according to the work plan detailed in part B of the grant proposal and to the career development plan. The key milestones until termination of the project have been met.
The first year of this fellowship has been mainly devoted to acquiring the complementary skills in microfluidics, chemical engineering and spectroscopy necessary to carry out this project. In this respect, all of the training and transfer of knowledge needs established in the career development plan have been met. We have established a collaboration with Prof. M.T. Kreutzer (TU-Delft) who specialises in droplet-based microfluidics and who lends his micro-fabrication and chemical engineering expertise to this project. A second collaboration has been established with Prof. M. Bonn (AMOLF), an expert in spectroscopy, to use on-chip Raman spectroscopy for analysing the droplet content during the screening.
Only a slight deviation pertaining to the technical solutions used for the generation of arrays of droplets and for the analytical technique to analyse reaction progress on chip have been made but the all of the main objectives are still being met. In the coming months, we will submit a publication on a novel catalytic system developed in part during this fellowship and which will be used in the microfluidic device.
We believe the basic scientific and technical solutions for this ambitious project have been laid out and will serve as a good basis for their full implementation.
The MICRODROPCAT project proceeded according to the work plan detailed in part B of the grant proposal and to the career development plan. The key milestones until termination of the project have been met.
The first year of this fellowship has been mainly devoted to acquiring the complementary skills in microfluidics, chemical engineering and spectroscopy necessary to carry out this project. In this respect, all of the training and transfer of knowledge needs established in the career development plan have been met. We have established a collaboration with Prof. M.T. Kreutzer (TU-Delft) who specialises in droplet-based microfluidics and who lends his micro-fabrication and chemical engineering expertise to this project. A second collaboration has been established with Prof. M. Bonn (AMOLF), an expert in spectroscopy, to use on-chip Raman spectroscopy for analysing the droplet content during the screening.
Only a slight deviation pertaining to the technical solutions used for the generation of arrays of droplets and for the analytical technique to analyse reaction progress on chip have been made but the all of the main objectives are still being met. In the coming months, we will submit a publication on a novel catalytic system developed in part during this fellowship and which will be used in the microfluidic device.
We believe the basic scientific and technical solutions for this ambitious project have been laid out and will serve as a good basis for their full implementation.