title: Ionic liquid droplet as e-microreactor.
abstract: A powerful approach combining a droplet-based, open digital microfluidic lab-on-a-chip using task-specific ionic liquids as soluble supports to perform solution-phase synthesis is reported as a new tool for chemical applications. The negligible volatility of ionic liquids enables their use as stable droplet reactors on a chip surface under air. The concept was validated with different ionic liquids and with a multicomponent reaction. Indeed, we showed that different ionic liquids can be moved by electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD), and their displacement was compared with aqueous solutions. Furthermore, we showed that mixing ionic liquids droplets, each containing a different reagent, in "open" systems is an efficient way of carrying supported organic synthesis. This was applied to Grieco's tetrahydroquinolines synthesis with different reagents. Analysis of the final product was performed off-line and on-line, and the results were compared with those obtained in a conventional reaction flask. This technology opens the way to easy synthesis of minute amounts of compounds ad libitum without the use of complex, expensive, and bulky robots and allows complete automation of the process for embedded chemistry in a portable device. It offers several advantages, including simplicity of use, flexibility, and scalability, and appears to be complementary to conventional microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices usually based on continuous-flow in microchannels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Technology for Biology and Health, CEA/LETI, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dubois
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marchand
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fouillet
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berthier
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Douki
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hassine
authors.forename: Said
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gmouh
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaultier
mesh_terms: D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D014867:Water