Patent ID: 11885822
Assignee: SRI INTERNATIONAL
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B  C | IPC B  G

Claim 17:
18. An apparatus for reaction screening and optimization, comprising:
a plurality of reaction vessels that are individually selectable and separable, wherein the plurality of reaction vessels include reagents contained therein according to experimental design parameters for a plurality of reaction mixtures, the experimental design parameters including a set of synthetic routes each designed to reach a single target end product according to a plurality of reaction conditions for a plurality of reactions, wherein the plurality of reaction conditions each vary with a plurality of values and include exposure to different temperatures, different periods of time, and at least one of different reagents and different reagent concentrations, and wherein the single target end product is known and is the same for each of the set of synthetic routes;
at least one reactor module configured and arranged to output energy to drive the plurality of reactions of the plurality of reaction mixtures within the plurality of reaction vessels in accordance with the plurality of reaction conditions and in parallel to form compositions within the plurality of reaction vessels, including the exposure to the different temperatures for the different periods of time; and
an analysis subsystem configured and arranged to analyze the compositions while contained within the plurality of reaction vessels and after the reactions have begun and at any time during a set of reaction times by providing an analysis beam selectively toward the plurality of reaction mixtures and analyzing results therefrom, at a speed on an order of one reaction per second, by comparing the compositions contained within the plurality of reaction vessels to a target composition, the target composition is the single target end product or an intermediate of the single target end product;
an automation subsystem configured and arranged to:
seal the plurality of reaction vessels;
selectively move the plurality of reaction vessels to and from the at least one reactor module for the different periods of time based on the experimental design parameters; and
unseal the plurality of reaction vessels and selectively move the reaction mixtures proximal to the analysis subsystem; and

control circuitry configured and arranged to provide the experimental design parameters to the automation subsystem for controlling the reactions within the plurality of reaction vessels and to identify optimum reaction conditions for synthetically forming the single target end product based on the analysis of the compositions received from the analysis subsystem, the optimum reaction conditions including a set of reaction conditions to synthetically form the single target end product as optimized for an objective, the set of reaction conditions including select values for each of the plurality of reaction conditions as defined by the experimental design parameters.