Smart coacervate catalysis: robotic optimization of Knoevenagel reaction networks

Abstract

The emergence of collaborative robotics and additive manufacturing of equipment consumables has had a significant impact on the development of chemical synthesis, biomedicine, the food industry, and agriculture. However, high cost hampers the application of collaborative robots in organic and physical chemistry. Here we suggest a low-cost 3D-printed robotic platform made from gripper and dispenser manipulators coupled with computer vision tools that provide full automation of the Knoevenagel reaction of barbituric acid with aromatic aldehydes, ranging from mixing of reagents to kinetic spectrophotometric monitoring. Screening of conditions of the Knoevenagel reaction between barbituric acid and aromatic aldehydes (reagent ratio, concentration and type of polyelectrolytes and interpolyelectrolyte complexes, as well as type of aromatic aldehyde) powered by the developed open-source Python-based software boosts the discovery of optimal conditions for enhanced reaction kinetics. Our robotic system performs dataset collection and discovers smart polyelectrolyte coacervate catalysis.