(289d) Microchemical Synthesis of Non-Covalently Bonded Materials

Non-covalently bonded materials, inorganic and organic, find utility in a broad cross-section of societal problems.  Ice-like structures, as an example, can be found throughout nature in a variety of crystalline forms.  When thermodynamic conditions are favorable, the nucleation and growth leading to crystal formation is highly dependent on molecular level concentration and temperature gradients in addition to surfaces that induce heterogeneous nucleation.  We have investigated the use of microreactors to control the formation of such non-covalently bonded structures towards bridging the gap between molecular level theoretical predictions and microscale experimental results.  The synthesis of crystalline compounds in microscale laminar flow can eliminate the heat and mass transport resistances often inherent in larger scale reactors, and thus intrinsic kinetic information can be extracted.  Applications ranging from energy to pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals depend on the discovery of such engineering and mechanistic insights.  These results and others will be presented and discussed.