We have supplemented our laboratories with capability in 3D printing. Also referred to as additive manufacture, it can be useful to generate low-cost items to assist medicinal chemistry and assay technology. We have designed and built our own components for our flow chemistry applications. Where possible, we have published these and have made the files required to reproduce them available as open-source.
One essential component for flow chemistry is a back-pressure regulator (BPR). We have designed and 3D printed our own BPR at a low cost; this small component is the ‘unsung hero’ of flow chemistry. It serves to maintain a constant pressure throughout the system to ensure precise control of the flow rate.
Design and development of a 3D printed back-pressure regulator
In collaboration with Stephen Hilton at UCL, we developed a 3D printed, air-cooled lamp holder for photo circular disk reactors used for continuous flow photochemistry. This allows us to maintain a lower and stable temperature during the reaction. Temperature control is a key factor in terms of success or failure for many chemical reactions.
Control and Monitoring of Temperature in 3D Printed Circular Disk Reactors for Continuous Flow Photochemistry using Raspberry Pi Based Software
We designed and printed the parts to assemble racks for our Syrris Asia™ Auto Collectors. They are also compatible with any Gilson FC203B and are designed to accommodate 8 mL vials and standard 30 mL and 40 mL vial sizes.
3D print files for the reproduction of all these items can be found on our Vernalis GitHub
