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Leonov AI, Hammer AJS, Lach S, Mehr SHM, Caramelli D, Angelone D, Khan A, O'Sullivan S, Craven M, Wilbraham L, Cronin L. An integrated self-optimizing programmable chemical synthesis and reaction engine. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1240. [PMID: 38336880 PMCID: PMC10858227 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45444-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Robotic platforms for chemistry are developing rapidly but most systems are not currently able to adapt to changing circumstances in real-time. We present a dynamically programmable system capable of making, optimizing, and discovering new molecules which utilizes seven sensors that continuously monitor the reaction. By developing a dynamic programming language, we demonstrate the 10-fold scale-up of a highly exothermic oxidation reaction, end point detection, as well as detecting critical hardware failures. We also show how the use of in-line spectroscopy such as HPLC, Raman, and NMR can be used for closed-loop optimization of reactions, exemplified using Van Leusen oxazole synthesis, a four-component Ugi condensation and manganese-catalysed epoxidation reactions, as well as two previously unreported reactions, discovered from a selected chemical space, providing up to 50% yield improvement over 25-50 iterations. Finally, we demonstrate an experimental pipeline to explore a trifluoromethylations reaction space, that discovers new molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artem I Leonov
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Alexander J S Hammer
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Slawomir Lach
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - S Hessam M Mehr
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Dario Caramelli
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Davide Angelone
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Aamir Khan
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Steven O'Sullivan
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Matthew Craven
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Liam Wilbraham
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Leroy Cronin
- School of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
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Angelone D, Hammer AJS, Rohrbach S, Krambeck S, Granda JM, Wolf J, Zalesskiy S, Chisholm G, Cronin L. Convergence of multiple synthetic paradigms in a universally programmable chemical synthesis machine. Nat Chem 2021; 13:63-69. [PMID: 33353971 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00596-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Although the automatic synthesis of molecules has been established, each reaction class uses bespoke hardware. This means that the connection of multi-step syntheses in a single machine to run many different protocols and reactions is not possible, as manual intervention is required. Here we show how the Chemputer synthesis robot can be programmed to perform many different reactions, including solid-phase peptide synthesis, iterative cross-coupling and accessing reactive, unstable diazirines in a single, unified system with high yields and purity. Developing universal and modular hardware that can be automated using one software system makes a wide variety of batch chemistry accessible. This is shown by our system, which performed around 8,500 operations while reusing only 22 distinct steps in 10 unique modules, with the code able to access 17 different reactions. We also demonstrate a complex convergent robotic synthesis of a peptide reacted with a diazirine-a process requiring 12 synthetic steps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Angelone
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | | | - Simon Rohrbach
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Stefanie Krambeck
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jarosław M Granda
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jakob Wolf
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Sergey Zalesskiy
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Greig Chisholm
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK
| | - Leroy Cronin
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, UK.
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