Nanotiterplates for combinatorial chemistry

Miniaturization has grown to be a driving force in modern chemical and biochemical laboratories. Combinatorial explosion demands for new pathways for the synthesis and screening of new substances which can act as leads in drug discovery. Highly parallelized automata that can handle the smallest amounts of substances are needed. However, the development is not always straightforward since new problems also arise in miniaturization, e.g. increasing importance of surface properties of utilized devices and evaporation of liquids. This paper reports on recent developments on the field of miniaturized reaction vessels called nanotiterplates. A survey on fabrication technologies as well as applications of nanotiterplates is given. Special emphasis is given to results of the development of an automaton for miniaturized synthesis and screening. Besides the mere fabrication of nanotiterplates with integrated microsieve bottom membranes, examples of applications in chemical synthesis and bio-assays are given. Further topics are the characterization and specific adaption of surface properties and investigations on the evaporation of solvents and measures for prevention.