We just published an article about a 3D printed polypropylene microreactor coupled to a mass spectrometer for chemical reaction analysis. Along with the article, we also made a video abstract.
This microreactor has an integrated stirring bar and a nano-electrospray needle. It is the first 3D printed microreactor with these components integrated during 3D printing.
The nano-ESI needle is the ion source of our microreactor, and is used to couple it directly to a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer analyses the chemical reactions. Furthermore, the reaction is analysed as it happens.
We used polypropylene to 3D print the microreactor because polypropylene is a refractory polymer in the sense that it is resistant to strong acids, alkaline solutions, or the great majority of solvents used in chemical synthesis.
The integrated ion source and stirring capability enable us to monitor the chemical reactions in real time: first the reagents are infused in the reaction chamber using syringe pumps. Once the desired volume has been infused, pumping is interrupted and we start the stirring. At the same time, or a bit earlier, we start monitoring the reaction with the mass spectrometer.
In our study we successfully analysed a Diels-Alder and retro Diels-Alder reaction. The reagents are a trans-cyclo-octene and methyltetrazine. More information about the reactions is available in the supplementary information. We also publish, in the supplementary info, detailed instructions on how to 3D print the microreactor and even the measurement jig.
The link to the article is http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/re/c7re00015d#!divAbstract The article will become Open Access in due course (few days).
In the meantime you can download the article from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315119578_A_miniaturised_3D_printed_polypropylene_reactor_for_online_reaction_analysis_by_mass_spectrometry