An autonomous portable platform for universal chemical synthesis

Manzano, J. S., Hou, W., Zalesskiy, S. S., Frei, P., Wang, H., Kitson, P. J. and Cronin, L. (2022) An autonomous portable platform for universal chemical synthesis. Nature Chemistry, 14(11), pp. 1311-1318. (doi: 10.1038/s41557-022-01016-w) (PMID:36202987)

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Abstract

Robotic systems for synthetic chemistry are becoming more common, but they are expensive, fixed to a narrow set of reactions, and must be used within a complex laboratory environment. A portable system that could synthesize known molecules anywhere, on demand, and in a fully automated way, could revolutionize access to important molecules. Here we present a portable suitcase-sized chemical synthesis platform containing all the modules required for synthesis and purification. The system uses a chemical programming language coupled to a digital reactor generator to produce reactors and executable protocols based on text-based literature syntheses. Simultaneously, the platform generates a reaction pressure fingerprint, used to monitor processes within the reactors and remotely perform a protocol quality control. We demonstrate the system by synthesizing five small organic molecules, four oligopeptides and four oligonucleotides, in good yields and purities, with a total of 24,936 base steps executed over 329 h of platform runtime.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the EPSRC (grants nos. EP/L023652/1, EP/R020914/1, EP/S030603/1, EP/R01308X/1, EP/S017046/1 and EP/S019472/1), the ERC (project no. 670467 SMART-POM), the EC (project no. 766975 MADONNA) and DARPA (projects nos. W911NF-18-2-0036, W911NF-17-1-0316 and HR001119S0003).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Zalesskiy, Dr Sergey and Wang, Hsin and Hou, Dr Wenduan and Manzano, Dr Sebastian and Cronin, Professor Lee and Kitson, Dr Philip and Frei, Przemyslaw
Authors: Manzano, J. S., Hou, W., Zalesskiy, S. S., Frei, P., Wang, H., Kitson, P. J., and Cronin, L.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
Journal Name:Nature Chemistry
Publisher:Nature Research
ISSN:1755-4330
ISSN (Online):1755-4349
Published Online:06 October 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Authors
First Published:First published in Nature Chemistry 14(11): 1311-1318
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy
Data DOI:10.5281/zenodo.5248762

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
190796Programmable 'Digital' Synthesis for Discovery and Scale-up of Molecules, Clusters and NanomaterialsLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/L023652/1Chemistry
301241Ultra-Reduced Polyoxometalates as Electron-Coupled-Proton-Systems for Energy StorageLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/R020914/1Chemistry
304037EPSRC International Centre-to-Centre CroninLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/S030603/1Chemistry
300591Programmable Molecular Metal Oxides (PMMOs) - From Fundamentals to ApplicationLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/R01308X/1Chemistry
3026673DSynth: Design and fabrication of cartridges for digital chemical synthesisLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/S017046/1Chemistry
303747Digital-Chemical-Robotics for Translation of Code to Molecules and Complex Chemical SystemsLeroy CroninEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/S019472/1Chemistry
172151SMARTPOM: Artificial-Intelligence Driven Discovery and Synthesis of Polyoxometalate ClustersLeroy CroninEuropean Research Council (ERC)670467Chemistry
302959Microbial deployment of new-to-nature chemistries for refactoring the barriers between living and non-living matterLeroy CroninEuropean Commission (EC)766975Chemistry
300851Programmable Multiplexed Droplets and Arrays Containing Reaction NetworksLeroy CroninDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)W911NF-18-2-0036Chemistry