

Chemical synthesis via 3D printing? - hershel
http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/859/chemical-synthesis-via-3d-printing

======
wuschel
I like the idea - although I would like to point out that there is no such
thing as a 'general' reaction container in chemistry.

There are automated reaction/deposition systems that are used in combinatorial
chemistry. Many of them are in use in the pharmaceutical industry, or solid
state chemistry.

I built a small multi-reactor for high temperature synthesis with ("only") 8
reaction tubes myself, and had a bit of hassle when it came to the injection
and stirring. As such, I think the 3D printing technology with its fine
control for delivery will definatly have some application in this field, as
pointed out in the comment in stackexchange.

As with the the microsystem based synthesis which uses micro-sized reaction
volumes/object features to enhance e.g. removal of thermal energy in an
reaction, this technology has good potential to find some niche application,
e.g. screening of optimal reaction conditions. However, note that these
optimization procedures have to be done again when scaling synthesis up to the
synthesis of larger volumes.

~~~
hershel
BTW , the researchers behind research started this research by building a DIY
3D printer[1] , which is pretty cool.

>> General reaction container

Another article i read about this , talks about getting some short list of
base materials which you can synthesize many materials from. Is that
theoretically possible (let's assume they build a variety of synthesis methods
and exchangeable catalysts on the reaction vessel ) ?

[1]An interesting more detailed article about this
[http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/news/2012/april/3d-printer...](http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/news/2012/april/3d-printer-
chemistry-labware-reaction-vessel.asp)

~~~
wuschel
> BTW , the researchers behind research started this research by building a
> DIY 3D printer[1] , which is pretty cool.

Funky. If I still were in my phd slavery time, I would try to have a go with a
3D printing project. Thank you for pointing out the literature. Do you have
more to show?

> talks about getting some short list of base materials > which you can
> synthesize many materials from. > Is that theoretically possible

Why not. But I would add the assumption that you get a repertoire of click
reactions [A], otherwise optimization of reaction condications in regard to
thermodynamics/kinetics/byproducts/etc might kill your 3D printing lab fun.

The question is what the main benefit of the 3D infrastructure is when it
comes to chemical synthesis. On a first glimpse, producing your own chemicals
in your printer sounds like fun. But why not buy them in the first place? Once
a synthetic route is explored, chemical manufacturers take over the task to
scale up production or produce chemicals on demand.

Unlike mentioned in your article [1], solid phase synthesis is already in use
in industry and blurs the line between reaction container and reaction.

Let me make some random guesses: There is definalty huge potential in 3D
printing once it leaves the current domain of base materials. One could print
solid state batteries, logic circuits (organic electronics), matrix like
containers for combinatorial chemistry. I think there is a huge benefit
materials research / prototyping when it comes to 3D printing.

However, the problem with chemistry is that many parameters play an important
role in reactions e.g. the effectivity of stirring, solvent choice - and that
solid analytics are a must-have. After all, every chemist has had a 'Monday
Morning' reaction.

    
    
      [A] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_chemistry

~~~
hershel
That's all my sources, plus an extra news article[1].

Click reactions are interesting.

What's the point of this ? first, it's offering places with lack of solid
access to medicines and materials a good source.

Second, it has similar motivations to any 3d printer as a research tool : easy
copying and sharing and faster innovation.

[1][http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jul/21/chemputer-
tha...](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jul/21/chemputer-that-prints-
out-drugs)

~~~
wuschel
Hi hershel,

thanks for your links/lit.

I was not trying to to stomp down any intiative towards employing 3D printers
in chemistry - on the contrary, I find these are very interesting tools that I
was watching with envy in my final years of university life. I just wanted to
point out some of the problems that can not be solved easily by just making
use of a 3D printer:

    
    
      1. control of reaction 
      2. purification
      3. analytics
    

are as important as choosing the recipe of the reaction because side-reactions
can be found most of the time with synthesis e.g. due to imperfect reaction
conditions, reactant aging, nature of reaction (kinetic vs thermodynamic
control), steric factors, solvent, many factors that are difficult to control
etc. Quite unfortunate, I know.

Not sure what the current resolution of the printers is - I was following this
exciting idea for some time, but until now I could not figure out a concept
that would allow to bootstrap a 3D printing system that provides some interest
value proposition to a specific customer segment. I guess we will see many
more projects with 3D printers in the respective journals.

As for medicine, I would not gulp any stuff that has been made by a 3D
printing system - quality control is the one of the things the pharmaceutical
does right. It costs a lot of $ but is necessary in order to be confident
enough that the compounds you are making are really the compounds you wanted
to create.

