Single-cell microreactors

Several reactions have been demonstrated using microreactors. One of the potentially more important is the direct synthesis of MIC from oxygen and methyl formamide over a silver catalyst. Dupont have demonstrated this process using a microreactor cell similar to that described above in which the two reactants are mixed, then heated to 300 °C in a separate layer and subsequently passed through another tube coated with the silver catalyst. The estimated capacity of a single cell with tube diameters of a few millimetres is 18 tpa. 

The latest development in bioorganic chemistry concerns the study of chemical processes within a cell. The incorporation of cells in a microreactor enables the investigation of the effect of all kinds of molecules on the behavior and the metabolic processes of a single cell. Although still in its infancy, this line of research holds much promise for more effective pharmaceutical screening processes and biotechnology applications. 

Multiplex CARS microspectroscopy, in conjunction with appropriate spectral analysis tools, was successfully applied to the study of phospholipid bilayer model systems [120, 121, 142, 70, 143], lipids within cells [144, 127, 145-147, 141], a single pollen grain [148], a single bacterial endophore [140], a molecular J-aggregate microcrystal [149], silicon components on a wafer [130], separated phases in polymer blends [123, 135], and concentration profiles in a microreactor [150]. 

Ke C, Kelleher AM, Bemey H, Sheehan M, Mathewson A (2007) Single step cell lysis/PCR detection of Escherichia coli in an independently controllable silicon microreactor. Sens Actuators B 120 538-544... 

---