Patent ID: 6044212
Filing Date: 2000-03-28
Classification: B01J,C40B

Abstract:
A method for chemical synthesis using a synthesizer, an analyzer, and a computer, the method including the steps of:identifying physical variables which affect chemical synthesis for a reaction, the physical variables including reagent concentration and operating conditions;determining a range of values of the physical variables;choosing a finite number of experimental tests wherein each of the experimental tests has values for reagent concentrations and operating conditions chosen from the range of values and wherein at least some of the experimental tests have different reagent concentrations and operating conditions;providing a plurality of wells in a reaction block;assigning each of the experimental tests to a particular well in the reaction block;dispensing reagents into the plurality of wells in the reaction block, the reagent concentrations corresponding to the values chosen from the range of values;reacting in the synthesizer the reagents using operating conditions chosen from the values for the experimental tests;obtaining samples from the plurality of wells;analyzing the samples using the analyzer to determine amounts of at least one component in each of the samples;automatically generating a statistical analysis using the computer based on the amounts of the at least one component in each of the samples and the operating conditions chosen from the values for the experimental tests in order to evaluate the reactions in the wells;automatically generating suggested parameters for a future set of experiments using the computer wherein the suggested parameters have values for reagent concentrations and operating conditions based on the statistical analysis;dispensing reagents into the plurality of wells in a reaction block, the reagent concentrations corresponding to the suggested parameters;reacting in the synthesizer the reagents using operating conditions chosen from the suggested parameters;obtaining samples from the plurality of wells; andanalyzing the samples using the analyzer to determine amounts of at least one component in each of the samples.