Chemical synthesis via 3D printing?

http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/859/chemical-synthesis-via-3d-printing

by hershel • 13 years ago

16 8 13 years ago

chemistry.stackexchange.com

wuschel4• 13 years ago

I like the idea - although I would like to point out that there is no such thing as a 'general' reaction container in chemistry.

There are automated reaction/deposition systems that are used in combinatorial chemistry. Many of them are in use in the pharmaceutical industry, or solid state chemistry.

I built a small multi-reactor for high temperature synthesis with ("only") 8 reaction tubes myself, and had a bit of hassle when it came to the injection and stirring. As such, I think the 3D printing technology with its fine control for delivery will definatly have some application in this field, as pointed out in the comment in stackexchange.

As with the the microsystem based synthesis which uses micro-sized reaction volumes/object features to enhance e.g. removal of thermal energy in an reaction, this technology has good potential to find some niche application, e.g. screening of optimal reaction conditions. However, note that these optimization procedures have to be done again when scaling synthesis up to the synthesis of larger volumes.

hershel2• 13 years ago

BTW , the researchers behind research started this research by building a DIY 3D printer[1] , which is pretty cool.

> General reaction container

Another article i read about this , talks about getting some short list of base materials which you can synthesize many materials from. Is that theoretically possible (let's assume they build a variety of synthesis methods and exchangeable catalysts on the reaction vessel ) ?

[1]An interesting more detailed article about this http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/news/2012/april/3d-printer...

wuschel4• 13 years ago

BTW , the researchers behind research started this research by building a DIY 3D printer[1] , which is pretty cool.

Funky. If I still were in my phd slavery time, I would try to have a go with a 3D printing project. Thank you for pointing out the literature. Do you have more to show?

talks about getting some short list of base materials which you can synthesize many materials from. Is that theoretically possible

Why not. But I would add the assumption that you get a repertoire of click reactions [A], otherwise optimization of reaction condications in regard to thermodynamics/kinetics/byproducts/etc might kill your 3D printing lab fun.

The question is what the main benefit of the 3D infrastructure is when it comes to chemical synthesis. On a first glimpse, producing your own chemicals in your printer sounds like fun. But why not buy them in the first place? Once a synthetic route is explored, chemical manufacturers take over the task to scale up production or produce chemicals on demand.

Unlike mentioned in your article [1], solid phase synthesis is already in use in industry and blurs the line between reaction container and reaction.

Let me make some random guesses: There is definalty huge potential in 3D printing once it leaves the current domain of base materials. One could print solid state batteries, logic circuits (organic electronics), matrix like containers for combinatorial chemistry. I think there is a huge benefit materials research / prototyping when it comes to 3D printing.

However, the problem with chemistry is that many parameters play an important role in reactions e.g. the effectivity of stirring, solvent choice - and that solid analytics are a must-have. After all, every chemist has had a 'Monday Morning' reaction.

  [A] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_chemistry

Chemical synthesis via 3D printing?

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