Plug-and-play technology automates chemical synthesis
Designing a new chemical synthesis can be a laborious process with a fair amount of drudgery involved — mixing chemicals, measuring temperatures, analyzing the results, then starting over again if it doesn’t work out. MIT researchers have now developed an automated chemical synthesis system that can take over many of the more tedious aspects of chemical experimentation, freeing up chemists to spend more time on the more analytical and creative aspects of their research. “Our goal was to create an easy-to-use system that would allow scientists to come up with the best conditions for making their molecules of interest — a general chemical synthesis platform with as much flexibility as possible,” says Timothy F. Jamison, head of MIT’s Department of Chemistry and one of the leaders of the research team. This system could cut the amount of time required to optimize a new reaction, from weeks or months down to a single day,...