Patent ID: 7687269

Claim:
A method of moving small samples of liquid through a microscale conduit system, said method comprising carrying out the following steps in the order given: a) providing a microscale conduit system, said conduit system having an interior wall surface; b) providing a first liquid sample to be transported through said system, said first liquid sample comprising a first solvent; c) providing a carrier liquid that is immiscible with said first solvent of said first liquid sample, wherein said interior wall surface of said conduit system, said carrier liquid and said first solvent are selected so that said interior wall surface is wettable by said carrier liquid preferentially to said first solvent and wherein said interior wall surface of at least a first section of said system is provided by a preferentially wettable covalent coating over a conduit system material that inherently, without said preferentially wettable covalent coating, is not preferentially wettable by said carrier liquid; d) transferring a portion of said carrier liquid into said conduit system; e) causing said carrier liquid to move in said conduit system by transferring an aliquot of said first sample into said conduit system; f) causing said aliquot of said first liquid sample to move in said conduit system by transferring into said conduit system a second portion of said carrier liquid; and g) causing said first liquid sample and said carrier liquid to continue to move in said conduit system.