Polymer-based microchips

Rong, W., Kutter, J.P., On-line chemiluminescence detection of bioprocesses using polymer-based microchips with immobilized enzymes. Micro Total Analysis Systems, Proceedings 5th pTAS Symposium, Monterey, CA, Oct. 21-25, 2001, 181-182. 

Integration of Parylene Electrospray Tips with Cyclo-Olefin Polymer-Based Microchips for ESI-MS... 

Musiyimi, H.K., Guy, J., Narcisse, D.A., Soper, S.A., Murray, K.K., Direct couphng of polymer-based microchip electrophoresis to on-line MALDI-MS using a rotating ball inlet. Electrophoresis, 26, 4703 710, 2005. 

Microchannels created using dry etching techniques on silicon-based substrates often have a cross section that is close to a rectangle. This geometry is also common in polymer-based microchips, e.g., created using PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) material, which are popularly used in the research commxmity due to their simpler fabrication procedure. The effect of the rectangular geometry on the hydrodynamic... 

The application of polymer monoliths in 2D separations, however, is very attractive in that polymer-based packing materials can provide a high performance, chemically stable stationary phase, and better recovery of biological molecules, namely proteins and peptides, even in comparison with C18 phases on silica particles with wide mesopores (Tanaka et al., 1990). Microchip fabrication for 2D HPLC has been disclosed in a recent patent, based on polymer monoliths (Corso et al., 2003). This separation system consists of stacked separation blocks, namely, the first block for ion exchange (strong cation exchange) and the second block for reversed-phase separation. This layered separation chip device also contains an electrospray interface microfabricated on chip (a polymer monolith/... 

Just before type-setting Agilent Technologies presented a microchip LC/MS system featuring a polymer-based LC chip packed with particulate diromatographic material and operated in pressure-driven mode. 

This chapter focuses on the approach we followed for developing a novel electrochemical sensor platform based on disposable polymer microchips with integrated microelectrodes for signal transduction. It presents the development of the so-called Immuspeed technology, which is dedicated to quantitative immunoassays with reduced time-to-results as well as sample and reagent volumes. Prior to presenting the specific characteristics of Immuspeed, the basic principles integrated in this platform are first presented and illustrated with reference to... 

More recently, Sugiura et al.11 developed a fully functional microvalve based on this photoresponsive behavior, which was composed of poly(/V-isopropylacrylamide) functionalized with the chromophore spirobenzopyran (pSPNIPAAm). The microvalve was fabricated in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel by in situ photopolymerization. Blue light irradiation (18 to 30 s) to the gel induced photoisomerization of the spirobenzopyran chromophore which resulted in shrinkage due to dehydration of the gel, thus causing the microvalves to open, as seen in Figure 23.7. In this example, localized irradiation enabled independent control of three photoresponsive polymer gel microvalves, which had been fabricated on a single microchip. 

The combinatorial synthesis based on the combination of microfluidics and electropolymerization was realized with a microchip consisting of two areas microfluidic channels for generation of gradient of two substances and a parallel electrochemical reactor with platinum electrodes (Fig. 13.3). The system was tested for synthesis of polyaniline in the presence of polysulfonic acid. The reagent ratio providing the best efficiency of the polymer synthesis was evaluated. 

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