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Development of a Microreactor for Amino Acid Polymerization
Author(s) -
Miyazaki M.,
Honda T.,
Nakamura H.,
Maeda H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.200600333
Subject(s) - microreactor , micromixer , microchannel , chemistry , polymer , materials science , anode , microfluidics , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , catalysis , electrode , engineering
A microreaction system consisting of a micromixer and a capillary reaction component was developed for the continuous production of amino acid polymers. A silicon glass based chip‐type micromixer tethered with a three dimensional microchannel network was fabricated by a combination of maskless technique, dry‐etching, and sequential anode bonding. The microreactor was constructed by connecting the micromixer with a microcapillary reaction component and a syringe pump. The resulting microreactor showed excellent controllability of molecular weight distribution of polyamino acid synthesis. The microreactor also produced amino acid copolymers with a more highly controlled molecular weight distribution than that of a batchwise reaction system operating for two months. These features demonstrate that the new microreactor is extremely suitable for the production of polyamino acids.