A high parallel reaction system for efficient catalyst research

High throughput screening of homogeneous catalysts in gas reactions (e.g. hydrogen or carbon monoxide) becomes possible in a fully automated way with our new laboratory system. Heart of the system is the high pressure microreactor (HPMR) 384-50. It has the capability, to ensure 384 parallel reactions up to 50 bar under ensuring of inert gas conditions in a standard laboratory environment. Heating and cooling in a range of 0-100 degrees C can be realized using Peltier elements. Mixing of the reaction partners is provided by a rotating permanent magnet under the reactor with coated stirring discs in the wells of the microplate. The reactions were carried out in chemical resistant microplates, which are sealed with pierce able cap mats and fixed in a special bracket. The HPMR 50-384 enables an excellent gas exchange in the pressure tank and thus the handling of air sensitive compounds. Different commercially available catalyst components were combined under equal reaction conditions to identify the best catalyst mixture for the enantioselective hydrogenation of methyl-2-acetamido acrylate. We could demonstrate successfully a fully automated screening of a gas reaction with 384 catalyst mixtures in solution in one microplate with very low usage on resources, like expensive chiral ligands, metal sources and educts without any cross contamination. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.