I-Corps: Safe and convenient chemical purification system.

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development and commercialization of an automated system that safely provides highly purified chemical reagents for researchers in laboratory settings. Traditional purification methods such as chromatography and distillation consume time, require experienced personnel, introduce hazards due to chemical exposure and can cause lab accidents that may result in injuries or even fatalities. The chemical purification system supported by this award eliminates these issues; it is simple, safe, fast and economical. The technology improves upon already available solvent purification systems by extending the use to reactive reagents with special storage requirements. Research personnel working in academia, government and corporate research environments will benefit from this technology in terms of reduced costs, accelerated workflows, and increased safety. This I-Corps project describes an innovative chemical purification system that is safe, fast, economical, standalone and portable. The unit is a self-contained refrigerated purification system comprised of specially designed stainless steel packed columns in series with a reservoir tank holding inert-gas-purged precursor. The innovative design of the chemical purification system enables research personnel to purify chemicals to exacting standards by removing impurities, air and moisture via a simple column cleaning process while limiting exposure to harmful chemicals and preserving the shelf-life of sensitive chemicals. Initial prototypes have been used over the past two years to produce purified monomers for use with the anionic polymerization technique; the resultant polymers have low polydispersity indices and on-target molecular weights, confirming the monomer purity. Commercialization of this project will improve the device by developing a more integrated and compact design, broadening the application space to a wider variety of chemicals and adding various automation features for improved ease of operation.