Open AccessAutomation of Controlled/Living Radical Polymerization
Author(s) -
Tamasi Matthew,
Kosuri Shashank,
DiStefano Jason,
Chapman Robert,
Gormley Adam J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced intelligent systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2640-4567
DOI - 10.1002/aisy.201900126
Subject(s) - raft , computer science , chain transfer , reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer polymerization , atom transfer radical polymerization , polymer , radical polymerization , polymerization , automation , materials science , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering
Controlled/living radical polymerization (CLRP) techniques are widely utilized to synthesize advanced and controlled synthetic polymers for chemical and biological applications. While automation has long stood as a high‐throughput (HTP) research tool to increase productivity as well as synthetic/analytical reliability and precision, oxygen intolerance of CLRP has limited the widespread adoption of these systems. Recently, however, oxygen‐tolerant CLRP techniques, such as oxygen‐tolerant photoinduced electron/energy transfer–reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (PET–RAFT), enzyme degassing of RAFT (Enz‐RAFT), and atom‐transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), have emerged. Herein, the use of a Hamilton MLSTARlet liquid handling robot for automating CLRP reactions is demonstrated. Synthesis processes are developed using Python and used to automate reagent handling, dispensing sequences, and synthesis steps required to create homopolymers, random heteropolymers, and block copolymers in 96‐well plates, as well as postpolymerization modifications. Using this approach, the synergy between highly customizable liquid handling robotics and oxygen‐tolerant CLRP to automate advanced polymer synthesis for HTP and combinatorial polymer research is demonstrated.