Chemical arrays signal detection methods

In the examples provided in this section, combinatorial methods were used to improve the properties of an industrial aromatic polymer, such as melt-polymerized bisphenol-A polycarbonate. The reactions were performed in 96-well microtiter glass plates that served as 96-microreactor arrays in a sequence of steps of increasing temperature with a maximum temperature of 280°C. An example of one of the 96-microreactor arrays after melt-polymerization is shown in Figure 5.3A. For melt-polymerization of bisphenol-A polycarbonate, the starting reaction components included diphenyl carbonate and bisphenol-A monomers and a catalyst (e.g., NaOH). The materials codes used in the examples are presented in Table 5.2. Intermediate species include polycarbonate oligomers and phenol. The bisphenol-A polycarbonate polymer often contains a branched side product that produces a detectable fluorescence signal and other species that can include nonbranched end-groups and cyclics. We used fluorescence spectroscopy for nondestructive chemical analysis of melt-polymerized bisphenol-A polycarbonate. The key attractive... 

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