Automated Workstations for Parallel Synthesis

Abstract

One of the main objectives in current chemical process development is increasing laboratory efficiency by high throughput experimentation (HTE) for screening of reaction and process parameters and by high speed experimentation (HSE) for optimisation of process parameters. An important tool in reaching this second goal is the use of parallel automated reactor systems. This report describes the tests, requirements, and evaluation scheme we used in our laboratories for testing three commercially available systems.

Emerging Technologies Supporting Chemical Process R&D and Their Increasing Impact on Productivity in the Pharmaceutical Industry

“…Since the initial report on DART, progress on the coupling of automation tools and DoE was reported by technology vendors who were introducing a new product, , researchers who had evaluated and selected a particular commercial technology, , and organizations that wanted to communicate their labors in assembling custom workflows. ,− Two specific articles were even written with the sole purpose of comparing and contrasting commercial technology vendors' offerings for the assistance of parallel experimentation and DoE. , …”

Development and Commercialization of the MiniBlock Synthesizer Family: A Historical Case Study

“…Laboratory automation tools and concepts had been creeping into process research and development (PR&D) laboratories intermittently since the early 1990s, 51 and by the time of the formation of the BMS collaboration, commercial equipment vendors had began to specifically target PR&D applications. 52,53 As in the drug discovery area, the early commercial PR&D solutions focused heavily on fully automated systems designed to address a rather rigid interpretation of a process optimization workflow. Inflexibility was a common drawback of these initial systems, preventing the generalized adaptation of the equipment to parallel experimentation.…”

Adapting a Low-Cost Selective Compliant Articulated Robotic Arm for Spillage Avoidance

“…There have been keen efforts to apply automation and highthroughput techniques in various development laboratories to serve diverse workflows. 1 These include reactor-based systems that are useful for applications in synthesis, screening, and process optimization, [2][3][4][5][6] as well as laboratory automation in clinical testing and diagnostics to increase process efficiency and standardization, shorten lab process cycle time, and enhance quality assurance of experimental data. 7,8 Traditionally, automation has been applied to dedicated workflows, although there is increasing need to devise more flexible automation systems to serve shorter-term projects and specialty applications.…”