A droplet-based high-throughput tubular platform to extract rate constants of slow chemical reactions

Wilfried Engl (1, 2) , Masatoshi Tachibana (1, 3, 4) , Annie Colin (1) , Pascal Panizza (5)

1 LOF - Laboratoire du Futur
2 CPMOH - Centre de physique moléculaire optique et hertzienne
3 Laboratory of Molecular Dynamics and Complex Chemical Physics
4 CRPP - Centre de recherches Paul Pascal
5 Biophysique

A high-throughput tubular millifluidic platform for performing slow kinetics measurements occurring in liquid phase, using minute amounts of reactant is described. The method consists of generating periodic trains of monodisperse droplets in a capillary tube and using these droplets as micro-reactors. In contrast to microfluidic lab-on chip devices, limited to fast kinetics measurements, this setup permits to extract kinetic rate constants of slow reactions at very low cost without requiring any use of soft lithography or glass etching technique for its design, nor miniaturization of analytical tools. It therefore appears very well suited for laboratories and industrial research and development centers.

Mots clés: Chemical reactors; Chemical analysis; Multiphase flows

Wilfried Engl, Masatoshi Tachibana, Annie Colin, Pascal Panizza. A droplet-based high-throughput tubular platform to extract rate constants of slow chemical reactions. Chemical Engineering Science, 2008, 63 (6), pp.1692-1695. ⟨10.1016/j.ces.2007.11.006⟩. ⟨hal-00672563⟩