Reaction vessel

The invention relates to a reaction vessel (1) for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, from a substance in solution or in liquid form, having several reaction chambers (6) each forming a separate gas chamber, consisting of at least one housing part, and each reaction chamber (6) has a reservoir (7) and several reaction areas (8) co-operating therewith, connected to one another and to the reservoir (7) in order to exchange gas. The reservoirs and the reaction areas co-operating with them are disposed immediately adjacent to one another in rows, distributed in a predeterminable, identical manner, these rows running parallel with one another. Each row of reservoirs (7) therefore co-operates with at least one row of reaction areas (8).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a reaction vessel for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, from a substance in solution or in liquid form, having several reaction chambers, each of which forms a separate gas chamber, formed by at least one housing part and each reaction chamber has a reservoir and, connected to the reservoir, several reaction areas co-operating therewith to produce a gas exchange.

The invention also relates to a reaction vessel having at least a vessel bottom part with a vessel floor and vessel walls forming at least one reaction chamber, the reaction chamber having a reservoir for liquid agents and at least a reaction area separated from the reservoir and having a gas connection thereto.

The invention further relates to a vessel cover for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, from a substance in liquid form or in solution, having several reaction areas on an underside.

2. The Prior Art X-ray diffraction is one of the most important tools in investigating structures of chemical substances. Particularly in modern molecular biology, crystallographic tests on macro-molecules such as protein and nucleic acids and their numerous complexes can lead to valuable conclusions about their properties and the way in which they work.

The most important aspect of carrying out structural analyses by X-ray diffraction is to be able to produce sufficiently large crystals, particularly single crystals of the substance to be investigated, which are as far as possible fault-free. In the case of biological macro-molecules, because crystal growth is very sensitive and highly dependent on a number of physical and chemical parameters, crystal culture is a factor which severely limits structural investigation in modern biology.

One of the most important methods of producing crystals of macro-molecules is based on the principle of vapour diffusion. This involves mixing a small quantity of the macro-molecule sample with a crystallisation solution and enclosing this solution, in a container, in the form of a droplet with a significantly larger quantity of the crystallisation solution, which is contained separately. By being able to exchange vapour between the crystallisation droplet and the reservoir, a change in concentration is brought about in the crystallisation droplet, which over-saturates the dissolved macro-molecules so that a crystal gradually starts to form in the droplet.

Because growing crystals of macro-molecules is very sensitive and dependent on a whole range of parameters, it is necessary to conduct a lot of tests in order to establish the parameters under which crystals suitable for structural analysis can be grown.

Various systems have been proposed as a means of conducting tests in large numbers, with the most varied combinations of variables influencing crystallisation. A device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,804 A, for example, which has 24 reservoirs for the crystallisation solvent, every reservoir having four droplet chambers disposed around it. With the droplet chambers disposed in this arrangement and with the arrangements proposed in other solutions, however, only a very small percentage of the surface area available on the device for accommodating droplet chambers is used. With the known systems, however, experience has shown that the process chambers for droplets in the form of what are known as suspended droplets placed on the underside of a chamber cover is fraught with difficulties and prone to error. A glass plate is generally used as a chamber cover. However, it is not always possible to position droplets on a glass plate with sufficient accuracy, which makes optical control of the crystal growth more difficult. Furthermore, because the glass plate is usually placed on the droplet chambers with a sealing layer of silicon grease in between and the silicon grease reduces friction, it frequently happens that the glass plate is inadvertently displaced.

The requirements of modern biology in particular are such that it is necessary to be able conduct an extremely large number of crystallisation tests with the most varied of parameters simultaneously. At the same time, it is also necessary to be able to automate these tests, both in terms of preparation and the controls applied to crystal growth by microscopic observation during the relatively long crystallisation process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the objective of the invention is to propose a reaction vessel for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, by means of which a plurality of production processes can be operated with different process parameters with a very high efficiency.

This objective is achieved by the invention by means of a reaction vessel for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, from a substance in liquid form or in solution, having several reaction chambers, each forming a separate gas chamber, consisting of at least one housing part and each reaction chamber has a reservoir and several reaction areas co-operating therewith to exchange gas with one another and connected to the reservoir, characterised in that the reservoirs and the reaction areas co-operating therewith are disposed immediately adjacent to one another in rows, distributed in a predeterminable, identical manner, these rows running parallel with one another, and each row of reservoirs cooperating with a row of reaction areas.

The advantage of this reaction vessel resides in the fact that because the containers or reaction areas are arranged in parallel rows, a very high density of containers or reaction areas can be provided. When filling the containers with crystallisation solution or when filling the reaction areas with crystallisation solution, this layout offering another advantage in that filling devices can be used which are suitable for filling several containers or reaction areas at the same time.

Other designs of the reaction vessel in which the reaction chambers are of the same structure and the undersides of the vessel floors of the reaction chambers come into contact with a plane parallel with the standing plane offer an advantage, due to the fact that, during automated manipulations such as filling or optical detection in particular, because of their planar position and the fact that they are identical in structure, the displacements needed relative to same reference points of reaction chambers are always the same, parallel with the standing plane, even for different reaction chambers.

As a result of the design whereby reservoirs are disposed in consecutive rows at a predeterminable distance from another, respective consecutive rows of reservoirs are arranged at a same distance from one another and adjacent reservoirs of any two consecutive rows are offset from one another by a predeterminable same distance and in the same direction relative to the rows, as a result of which filling devices with particularly simple and regular arrangements of filling orifices can be used.

Automated manipulation of the reaction vessels is made particularly easy in another embodiment in which the reservoirs are arranged in a rectangular pattern.

In another embodiment, a housing part is provided in the form of an at least approximately plate-shaped housing bottom part, consisting of vessel bottom parts forming the reaction chambers and a frame extending laterally from an edge of a top face of he housing bottom part down to the bottom faces of the vessel floors, the advantage of this being that the plate-shaped structure of the housing bottom part means that reaction vessels can be assembled from very few housing parts and, in the most practical case, only two.

As a result of another embodiment in which the vessel bottom parts comprise at least one reservoir and several reaction areas, three reaction areas are provided in the vessel bottom parts and the reservoirs and the reaction areas are designed to contain fluids, with the advantage that if only the reaction areas of the vessel bottom parts are to be used to bring about reactions or produce a sample, only the housing bottom part needs to be inserted in a filling device in order to fill the container and the reaction areas.

The advantage of another embodiment, in which the reaction areas of the vessel bottom parts are disposed in the region of 5 mm to 10 mm above the vessel floor of the reservoir, is that the reaction areas are more readily accessible for any optical controls of the crystallisation growth operated from above.

Also of advantage is the reaction vessel in which the reaction areas of the housing bottom parts are provided in the form of recesses with a capacity in the region of less than 5 μl and the recesses are designed as a plate-like, square cube, which means that drops of samples dissolved in crystallisation solution can be securely contained in small volumes on the one hand and a reaction area of this size affords ready access for optical control by means of a microscope.

The embodiment of the reaction vessel in which the floors of the recesses are of an at least approximately convex curvature has an advantage in that liquid droplets are more easily contained in recesses of this shape. When a liquid droplet is set down, the surface tension acting against adhesion between the walls of a recess and the boundary surface of the liquid is reduced in proportion to the degree to which the shape of the recess resembles the approximately spherical curvature of a droplet of liquid.

With the embodiments of the reaction vessel in which the rows of reaction areas in the housing bottom part lie respectively adjacent to the rows of reservoirs as seen in a plan view onto the standing plane and the cross section of the reservoir is rectangular on a plane parallel with the standing plane, efficient use is made of the space available for the reaction areas and the containers.

Standardised filling and testing devices such as those readily available for micro-titre plates can be used in conjunction with the reaction chambers proposed by the invention as a result of one advantageous embodiment of a reaction vessel in which the frame of the housing bottom part and the layout of the reaction chambers are made to the standard size of a micro-titre plate and a predeterminable number of reaction chambers is provided in the housing bottom part, this number being selected from a group based on the mathematical formula 3×2Nwhere N is a natural number.

The structure of the reaction vessel in which the housing bottom part is made from a transparent plastics material is of advantage because it can be illuminated from underneath for the purpose of optically controlling crystallisation in the reaction areas.

In the most practical case, the reaction vessel may consist of only two parts and all reaction chambers can be closed at the same time by fitting the housing bottom part to the vessel cover due to another embodiment, in which one housing part is a more or less lid-type vessel cover with grooves on the underside and vessel top parts containing at least one reaction area are bounded by the grooves and a frame is formed on the edge of the underside of the vessel cover projecting beyond the underside.

Also of advantage is another embodiment of the reaction vessel, in which the vessel top parts are designed to have several reaction areas, the vessel top parts having two reaction areas and the reaction areas of the vessel top parts being designed to contain liquids, since this makes even more efficient use of the space.

In other advantageous embodiments of the reaction vessel, the reaction areas of the vessel top parts are provided in the form of recesses, the recesses of the vessel top parts being of a cylindrical disc shape, and the recesses of the vessel top parts have a capacity in the region of less than 5 μl, which means that the reaction areas can be disposed considerably more densely, making positioning of the suspended droplets considerably more accurate. The risk of two suspended drops overflowing during preparation and fitting the vessel cover on the housing bottom part is very significantly reduced as a result.

The embodiment of the reaction vessel in which the floors of the recesses forming the reaction areas are of an at least approximately convex curvature has an advantage in that liquid droplets are more easily contained in recesses of this shape. Due to the fact that the spherical curvature of a liquid droplet tends to conform to the shape of such recesses, the surface tension acting against adhesion when a liquid droplet is placed in a recess is more easily overcome.

The design of reaction vessel in which, looking down onto the standing plane, the rows of reaction areas of the vessel cover lie respectively adjacent to rows of reactions areas of the housing bottom part, if any are provided, has an advantage in that the reaction areas of the housing bottom part and the vessel cover can be observed from above without having to take the vessel cover off the housing bottom part.

In another embodiment in which the frame of the vessel cover and the design of the vessel top parts are made to the standard size of a micro-titre plate and a predeterminable number of vessel top parts are provided in the vessel cover, the number being selected from a group based on the mathematical formula 3×2Nwhere N is a whole number, standard filling and analysis devices for miro-titre plates can advantageously be used.

Also of advantage is another embodiment in which the vessel cover is made from a transparent plastics material since the reaction chambers can be observed by means of light-optical devices, e.g. microscopes.

Advantage is to be had from another embodiment in which a mask is applied to a surface of the vessel cover remote from the reaction areas and this mask surrounds the reaction areas with a light-screening surface, as seen in a plan view onto the standing plane, so that scattered light can be prevented when photographing the reaction areas which would otherwise be detrimental to the image quality. If testing of the reactions in the reaction areas is automated, the masks may also be used as a means of establishing the exact position of the analysis device above the reaction area with the aid of optical sensors.

The objective of the invention is also independently achieved by means of a reaction vessel for producing a sample, in particular of a crystal, from a substance in solution or in liquid form, having several reaction chambers each forming a separate gas chamber, made up of at least one housing part and each reaction chamber has a reservoir and several reaction areas co-operating therewith, connected to one another and to the reservoir in order to exchange gas, characterised in that the reaction chambers are in the form of prisms with a regular hexagonal base surface and these reaction chambers are disposed in a honeycomb arrangement. The advantages gained by this arrangement reside in the fact that, because of the regular hexagonal base surface of the reaction chambers, the probability of errors when filling the reaction chambers can be reduced. For the same surface area, the distance from the centre point of the surface to the adjacent edge of a hexagon is always greater than is the case with a square. The honeycomb pattern of the cross sections of the reaction chambers therefore offers the advantage of a greater leeway for errors.

The objective of the invention is also independently achieved by means of a reaction vessel comprising at least a vessel bottom part with a vessel floor and vessel walls, forming at least one reaction chamber, the reaction chamber having a reservoir for liquid agents and at least one reaction area separated from the reservoir and having a gas connection thereto, characterised in that the reaction chamber is covered by a vessel top part, which lies at least against the vessel walls, optionally with a sealing layer in between, and having at least another reaction area above the reservoir. The advantages of this arrangement reside in the fact that by providing additional reaction areas in the vessel top part, better use is made of the available capacity of the reaction chamber.

Another embodiment of the reaction vessel in which several reaction chambers are provided and adjacent reaction chambers are each separated from one another by a common vessel wall offers an advantage in that the highest possible density of reaction chambers can be provided due to the fact that the reaction chambers are separated by a common vessel wall.

The advantage of another embodiment of the reaction vessel where the reaction areas of a vessel-type design and every two are separated from one another by a common wall is that efficient use is made of the capacity available for the reaction chambers and, secondly, the material required to make these reaction vessels is reduced to a minimum because of the common wall design.

Another independent solution to the task set by the invention is provided in the form of a vessel cover for producing a sample, in particular a crystal, from a substance in solution or liquid form, having several reaction areas on an underside, characterised in that the reaction areas are respectively disposed in rows with a predeterminable division, these rows being laid out parallel with one another.

The advantage of this vessel cover is that arranging the reaction areas in parallel rows makes for a rational approach to filling the reaction areas and filling devices can be used for this purpose which are suitable for filling several reaction areas simultaneously. With vessel covers of this type, however, it is also possible to form reaction chambers by combining a vessel cover with a housing bottom part, itself consisting only of reservoirs with a layout of reaction areas in a matching distribution.

The advantage of an embodiment in which the reaction areas are laid out in rows with a same distribution and immediately adjacent to one another is that reaction areas can be laid out in a particularly dense arrangement.

The embodiment of the vessel cover in which a frame is provided on an edge of the underside projecting beyond the underside makes it easier to fit the vessel cover to a housing bottom part matching the vessel cover once the reaction areas have been filled.

The embodiment of the vessel cover in which grooves are provided on the underside, by means of which vessel top parts having at least one reaction area are bounded, is of advantage because the edges of the vessel bottom parts of a housing bottom part matching the vessel cover can be inserted in the grooves, there by producing tightly sealed reaction chambers.

In embodiments of the vessel cover in which the reaction areas are designed to receive liquids, the reaction areas are provided in the form of recesses, the recesses being of a cylindrical disc shape and the recesses having a capacity in the region of less than 5 μl, the advantage of which is that the reaction areas can be more densely laid out, thereby significantly reducing the propensity to errors which might otherwise be caused by the overflow of two suspended droplets during preparation and when fitting the vessel cover on a matching housing bottom part.

Also of advantage is the embodiment of the vessel cover in which the floors of the recesses are of an at least approximately convex curvature, since liquid droplets are more easily contained in recesses of this shape. Due to the fact that the spherical curvature of a liquid droplet tends to conform to the shape of such recesses, the surface tension acting against adhesion when a liquid droplet is placed in a recess is reduced.

With the embodiments of the vessel cover in which the frame and the layout of the vessel top parts are designed to the standard size of a micro-titre plate and a predeterminable number of vessel top parts is provided, the number being selected from a group based on the mathematical formula of 3×2Nwhere N is a natural number, standardised filling and analysis devices commonly used for micro-titre plates can advantageously be used.

The advantage of the embodiment of the vessel cover in which the material is a transparent plastics material is that the reactions in the reaction areas can be observed using optical light instruments, e.g. microscopes.

Also of advantage is the embodiment of the vessel cover in which a mask is applied to the surface remote from the reaction regions and this mask, seen in a plan view onto the standing plane, surrounds the reaction areas with a light-screening surface, since this avoids any scattered light which might otherwise be detrimental to image quality when taking photographs. If using automated analysis devices in which the position of the reaction areas is located by means of optical sensors, these masks can also be used as a means of determining position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Firstly, it should be pointed out that the same parts described in the different embodiments are denoted by the same reference numbers and the same component names and the disclosures made throughout the description can be transposed in terms of meaning to same parts bearing the same reference numbers or same component names. Furthermore, the positions chosen for the purposes of the description, such as top, bottom, side, etc,. relate to the drawing specifically being described and can be transposed in terms of meaning to a new position when another position is being described. Individual features or combinations of features from the different embodiments illustrated and described may be construed as independent inventive solutions or solutions proposed by the invention in their own right.

FIGS. 1 to 3illustrate a reaction vessel1consisting of a vessel bottom part2and a vessel top part3. The vessel bottom part2consists of a vessel floor4and vessel walls5, which form a reaction chamber6. Disposed in the reaction chamber6is a reservoir7and three reaction areas8arranged at a higher position above the vessel floor4.

The base surface area of the reaction vessel1is square having a side length of approximately 10 mm. The reaction areas8are arranged at a height11of approximately 7.5 mm above the vessel floor4, lying in a row one immediately after the other, and bounded to the side by one of the vessel walls5. The concept of row is intended to be understood in a geometric context as meaning a linear arrangement of identical objects such that same points of the object lie respectively on a same straight line.

The reaction areas8are provided in the form of a recess with two immediately adjacent reaction areas8being separated from one another by a common wall12. The capacity of a reaction area8is approximately 4 μl, the shape being more or less that of a cube with side lengths of 2 mm×2 mm×1 mm.

The cross section of the reservoir7on a plane parallel with the standing plane13is four-cornered, in particular rectangular.

The reservoir7is specifically designed to hold liquid agents and the reaction area8for receiving a sample. The reservoir7is intended to be filled with the agent so that the reaction area8is always located above the level of the liquid surface in the reservoir7. This means that when working with the reaction vessel1in its position of usage, there can be no exchange of liquid between the reservoir7and the reaction area8, i.e. there can be an exchange of substances in the agent or sample in the form of a gas or vapour only.

The vessel top part3is of a plate-shaped design and is placed in a sealed fit on the vessel walls5of the vessel bottom part2with a sealing layer14in between. The vessel top part3has two reaction areas15, which also have a gas connection to the reaction chamber6. The reaction areas15are provided in the form of two cylindrical disc-shaped recesses in the vessel top part3.

The reservoir7and the reaction areas8and15are designed to receive liquids.

The reaction vessel1is used for the purpose of conducting reactions, during which an exchange of gas takes place between an agent disposed in the reservoir7and samples placed in the reaction regions8and15. Such a reaction might be, for example, the production of a crystal from a sample dissolved in a crystallisation solution using the principle of vapour diffusion. There is a shift in concentration in the drops of samples dissolved in a crystallisation fluid, located in the reaction areas8and15caused by the exchange of gas with the crystallisation solution contained in the reservoir7, causing crystals to form. The reaction areas8and15have a capacity of approximately 4 μl.

A drop located in a reaction area8is referred to as a sitting drop and a drop in the reaction area15is referred to as a suspended drop. The floors of the recesses forming the reaction areas8and15may also be of an at least approximately convex curvature (not illustrated). This means that by widening the recesses, the floors or the floor regions of the recesses can be designed to have a bevelled, truncated cone or sphere segment shape or combinations of such bodies. Using this type of design for the reaction areas8,15helps to keep the liquid droplet stationary.

The vessel top part3is made from a transparent plastics material so that crystal growth in the reaction areas8and15can be observed through the vessel top part3. Looking down on the reaction vessel1as indicated by an arrow16inFIG. 1, the row of reaction areas8lies adjacent to the row comprising the two reaction areas15. Accordingly, the row of reaction areas15lies above the reservoir7. The row of reaction areas8is therefore laterally offset from the row of reaction areas15, which means that the reactions taking place in reaction areas8and15can also be observed unhindered without having to open the reaction vessel.

FIG. 3illustrates a plan view of the reaction vessel1in the direction indicated by arrow16ofFIG. 1. A mask17is applied to the vessel top part3of the reaction vessel1. The mask17consists of a light-screening or light-impermeable layer and surrounds the reaction areas15. As a result of the light-screening effect of the mask17, disruptive scattered light is screened out of the reaction areas15when observing the reactions.

A reaction vessel1as illustrated inFIGS. 1 to 3is suitable for conducting tests in which miniaturisation is of particular importance. For example, it is possible to arrange a larger number of such reaction vessels1in a specially designed holding container in order to conduct a large number of reactions simultaneously.

FIGS. 4 and 5illustrate a housing bottom part19of a reaction vessel as proposed by the invention. The housing bottom part19consists of a frame20in which reaction chambers6are provided. The housing bottom part19is therefore of a more or less plate-type design. The frame20extends from one edge21of a top face22of the housing bottom part19down to the undersides23of the vessel floors4. The internal structure of a reaction chamber6corresponds to that of a vessel bottom part2as described with reference toFIGS. 1 to 3. In other words, the reaction chambers6of the housing bottom part19are of identical structure and uniformly arranged so that the undersides23of the vessel floors4of the reaction chambers6are brought into contact with a plane parallel with the standing plane13. This being the case, respective reaction chambers6lying adjacent to one another are separated from one another by at least one common vessel wall5. The base surface areas of the reaction chambers6are square in shape.

In a housing bottom part19, the reaction chambers6are arranged in a right-angled pattern with a row width24of 9 mm within a frame20which is constructed to the standard size of a micro-titre plate. The housing bottom part19therefore has a total of 96 reaction chambers6. Accordingly, respectively adjacent reservoirs7which are separated from one another by only a vessel wall5form a total of 8 reservoirs7separated from one another and disposed in immediately adjacent rows parallel with one another. These rows are aligned parallel with the longitudinal extension of the housing bottom part19so that respective consecutive rows of reservoirs are arranged at the same distance from one another. In an alternative embodiment of the housing bottom part19, however, the rows may also be aligned perpendicular to the longitudinal extension.

Clearly, housing bottom parts19may also made to a standard size of micro-titre plates with a different number of reaction chambers6, for example 24, 48, 96, 192, 384, 768, 1536, 3072, 6144, etc., i.e. the number may be selected from a group based on the mathematical formula of 3×2Nwhere N is a natural number.

Clearly, it would also be possible to provide housing bottom parts19in which respective consecutive rows of reaction chambers6are offset from one another by a pre-definable, identical distance in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the rows.

3 reaction areas8are arranged one after another in a row in each reaction chamber6. This being the case, the reaction areas8are arranged parallel with the longitudinal extension of the housing bottom part19forming eight respective immediately adjacent rows of reaction areas separated from one another. Accordingly, the rows of reservoirs7and reaction areas8are aligned respectively parallel with one another and a row of reaction areas8always lies next to a row of reservoirs7relative to the plan view indicated by the direction of the arrow16inFIG. 5. In view of the regular layout of reaction chambers6in the housing bottom part19with a row width24, the rows of reservoirs7and reaction areas8are uniformly distributed across its length. This layout has proved to be favourable, particularly if using an automated system to fill the reaction areas8and the reservoirs7.

With the layout of reaction chambers6illustrated inFIG. 4, very efficient use is made of the available capacity and the available base surface area of the housing bottom part19. Clearly, it would also be possible to design the base surface area of the reaction chambers6as rectangular or in the form of a parallelogram. Another alternative would be to arrange the parallel rows of reaction chambers6offset from one another in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the housing bottom part19. In another embodiment, it would also be possible for the reaction chambers6to be of a regular hexagonal cross section, in which case the reaction chambers6will be laid out in a honeycomb arrangement.

The material from which the housing bottom part19is made is a transparent plastics material, preferably polystyrene. The housing bottom part19may, of course, be made from a different material, preferably plastics, suitable for moulding by an injection moulding technique.

FIGS. 6 and 7illustrate a vessel cover25of a reaction vessel proposed by the invention. The vessel cover25comprises a frame26and an arrangement of96vessel top parts3integrally joined thereto, as described with reference toFIGS. 1 to 3. The vessel cover25is therefore provided in the form of a lid-type design. On an edge27of an underside28of the vessel cover25, the frame26stands proud of the underside28. The vessel top parts3are arranged in a right-angled pattern with a row width24of 9 mm in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the vessel cover25and at a right angle to the longitudinal extension of the vessel cover25. The housing top part25is made to the standard size of a micro-titre plate. Respective, immediately adjacent vessel top parts3have a common groove29. The grooves29are arranged so that they can be placed on the vessel walls5of the vessel bottom part2(FIGS. 4 and 5). Every vessel top part3has two cylindrical, disc-shaped reaction areas15, which makes a total of eight rows of adjacent reaction areas15. These rows are aligned parallel with the longitudinal extension of the vessel cover25and are evenly distributed across its length.

Clearly, it would also be possible to design vessel covers25to the standard size of micro-titre plates with a different number of reaction chambers6, for example 24, 48, 96, 192, 384, 768, 1536, 3072, 6144, etc., i.e. the number may be selected from a group based on the mathematical formula 3×2Nwhere N is a natural number.

The vessel cover25is made from a transparent plastics material, preferably polystyrene. Other materials may be used however, preferably of the type which can be processed with specifically shaped dies in an injection moulding process.

Masks17of a non-transparent material are applied to the surface of the vessel cover25remote from the reaction areas15, which, seen in a plan view as indicated by the direction of arrow16, surround the reaction areas15from outside. The masks17may be printed onto the vessel cover25or attached to the vessel cover25in the form of a film bearing the masks17. A film bearing masks17can also be applied by “in mould labelling”.

FIG. 8illustrates a vessel bottom part2and a vessel top part3of a reaction vessel1in the assembled state.

The frame26of the vessel cover25is inverted above the frame20of the housing bottom part19. Accordingly, the grooves29of the vessel cover25sit on the top edges of the vessel walls5of the vessel bottom part19so that the reaction chambers6are sealed off from the outside by an additional sealing layer14in the grooves29. Respective immediately adjacent reaction chambers6are laterally offset from one another by the row width24, being demarcated from one another by a common vessel wall5. Similarly, the reaction areas8of two immediately adjacent reaction chambers6are laterally offset from one another by the row width24in the same way as the reaction areas15of the vessel cover25. By contrast, however, the reaction areas15of the vessel cover25are laterally offset from the reaction areas8of the housing bottom part19by approximately half the value of the row width24.

As described with reference to the embodiments illustrated inFIGS. 4 and 5andFIGS. 6 and 7with regard to immediately adjacent rows of reaction areas8and immediately adjacent rows of reaction areas15, this means overall that rows of immediately adjacent reaction areas8and rows of immediately adjacent reaction areas15are arranged one after the other with a lateral offset corresponding to approximately half the row width24. Furthermore, every row of reservoirs7co-operates with at least one row of reaction areas8.

FIG. 9illustrates the principle on which a reaction vessel1proposed by the invention is used. The reservoirs7of the reaction chambers6are filled with an agent31whilst a reaction solution32is placed in the reaction areas8and the reaction areas15. Within a reaction chamber6, an exchange of substances can take place between the agent31and the reaction solutions32by vapour diffusion.

Since at least the vessel cover25is made from a transparent material, the reactions in the reaction solutions32can be observed with a microscope33through the vessel cover25. Because the reaction areas8and the reaction areas15are disposed laterally offset from one another, reactions in the reaction solutions32in both reaction areas8,15can be observed simultaneously without having to open the reaction chambers6.

An example of a reaction which can be conducted in a reaction vessel1is that of producing a crystal from a sample dissolved in a crystallisation solution on the principle of vapour diffusion, as already explained with reference toFIGS. 1 to 3. By means of vapour diffusion, a shift in concentration is brought about in the reaction solutions32of the reaction areas8and15due to the formation of crystals, in particular single crystals. The crystals forming in the reaction solutions32can be observed from outside with the aid of a microscope33.

For the sake of good order, it should finally be pointed out that in order to provide a clearer understanding of the structure of the reaction vessel1, it and its constituent parts have been illustrated out of scale to a certain extent and/or on an enlarged and/or reduced scale.

The tasks underlying the independent inventive solutions can be found in the description.

Above all, subject matter relating to the individual embodiments illustrated inFIGS. 1,2,3;4,5;6,7;8;9can be construed as independent solutions proposed by the invention. The tasks and solutions can be found in the detailed descriptions relating to these drawings.