Patent ID: 7115234

Claim:
An apparatus for effecting a set of semi-continuous or continuous chemical reactions in a parallel semi-continuous or continuous reactor, the apparatus comprising a filling station comprising an automated robotic liquid-handling system adapted for loading starting materials into a plurality of reactor vessels of a parallel semi-continuous or continuous reactor, the liquid handling system being controlled by a processor having a software interface for allowing a user to supply operating parameters to the processor, the parallel semi-continuous or continuous reactor comprising (i) the plurality of semi-continuous or continuous sealed, isolated reactor vessels for containing the starting materials, (ii) multiple header barrels for containing liquid reactants, and (iii) a transfer system comprising one or more pumps and multiple transfer lines configured for feeding liquid reactants from each of the multiple header barrels to each of the plurality of sealed, isolated reactor vessels during a reaction, the transfer system being controlled by a processor so that reactants can be fed to the reactor vessels at a desired rate during the reaction, wherein the transfer system of the parallel reactor comprises, for each of the multiple header barrels: (i) a pump, (ii) a feed line providing fluid communication between the header barrel and the pump, and (iii) a transfer line providing selective communication between the pump and each of the plurality of reactor vessels, the transfer line including a valve for serially directing flow into each of the plurality of reactor vessels during a reaction, a temperature monitoring and control system adapted for maintaining the plurality of reactor vessels at the same temperature during the set of reactions and maintaining the plurality of reactor vessels at different temperatures during the set of reactions, and a stirring system for mixing the contents of the reactor vessels during the set of reactions.