A fully automated platform for photoinitiated RAFT polymerization

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Robotics and Automation

Background:

• Photoinduced Electron/Energy Transfer-Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain-Transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization allows for efficient synthesis of polymers.
• Liquid handling robotics can automate reagent dispensing for combinatorial polymer synthesis.
• Automating photoinitiation and reaction monitoring is crucial for robust high-throughput polymer synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a robotic platform for fully automated PET-RAFT polymerizations.
• To enable individual control of reactions in well plates for high-throughput polymer synthesis.
• To achieve reliable synthesis of polymers with desired molecular weights and low dispersity.

Main Methods:

• Automated reagent dispensing into well plates.
• Custom-designed lightbox for individual well photoinitiation.
• Online reaction monitoring using fluorescence plate reader and robotic arm transfers.

Main Results:

• Robust parallel synthesis of acrylate and acrylamide homopolymers and copolymers.
• Achieved high monomer conversions and low dispersity across synthesized polymers.
• Demonstrated the platform's efficiency for combinatorial polymer chemistry.

Conclusions:

• The developed robotic platform enables fully automated, high-throughput PET-RAFT polymerizations.
• This platform is an efficient tool for combinatorial polymer chemistry, yielding polymers with controlled properties.
• Integration with machine learning can lead to a self-driving lab for polymer discovery.