Automation of chemical reactions

Abstract

Historically chemical automation was started in the field of analytical chemistry and until around 1992 only a few instrument makers and laboratories had studied the automation of organic synthesis chemistry (1st stage). Along side the growth of combinatorial chemistry, considerable attention has since been paid to developing automated synthesis apparatus and the accompanying peripheral apparatus, especially for the efficient development of new drugs in pharmaceutical companies (2nd stage). Recently many kinds of special-purpose automated modules and units have been developed for solid and solution phase synthesis, especially for high throughput parallel synthesis, isolations and purifications. In this report, I will briefly look at the history of laboratory automation, offer some advice on how to carry it out and then describe some future prospects.