RTD Analysis of an In-line Flash Chromatagraphy System with the PASCO Wireless Spectrometer
Reliable, low-cost, and easy-to-use, PASCO’s Wireless Spectrometer is known for supporting a wide array of applications in chemistry, physics, and biology. Now, a paper published in The Journal of Organic Chemistry highlights the spectrometer’s flexibility in an entirely new application – RTD analysis of an in-line flash chromatography system.
In their peer-reviewed paper, “Expanding the Tool Kit of Automated Flow Synthesis: Development of In-line Flash Chromatography Purification,” Filipe Vilela et al. present an in-line integration of an automated flash chromatography system with a flow reactor for the continuous synthesis and purification of product(s).
The work of Vilela et al. builds on existing developments in continuous flow chromatography systems, producing three distinct reaction systems that highlight the advantages of applying flow synthesis to in-line, normal-, and reverse-phase flash chromatography. The resulting system is reported to isolate products with 97-99% purity and has a productivity of up to 9.9 mmol/h, enabling researchers to collect gram quantities of purified product directly from a crude reaction mixture.
In developing their system, Vilela et al. conducted an RTD (Residence Time Distribution) analysis via tracer-pulse method to determine the amount of time required for a sample to travel through the flow system. A PASCO Wireless Spectrometer (PS-2600), fitted with a flow-through cuvette, was added to the in-line flow system, enabling the researchers to continuously monitor the absorbance of a tracer-isopropyl alcohol solution as it flowed through the system.
The researchers completed their analyses with the complete system, then compared their findings to the residence time observed when running the system without FBRs. They then used the difference between the two residence times and determined the mean residence time of a sample in the FBRs to be 16 min and 22.8 s.
While you probably won’t see the Wireless Spectrometer become a keystone in automated in-line flash chromatography systems, the work of Filipe Vilela et al. is a fantastic example of all the versatile applications of our compact, Wireless Spectrometer.
You can read the full article in The Journal of Organic Chemistry.