CDDL

Catalyst Development and Discovery Labratory

The Catalyst Discovery and Development Center (CDDL) was established in 2010 and is located in 575 ST Olin.  It has state of the art robotics equipment for the high throughput synthesis, screening and optimization of new catalysts and automated polymer analysis.  Other applications such as optimization of reaction conditions, kinetics studies, formulations testing and solubility studies may also be performed.  The CM3 is housed in a MBraun glovebox and applications are limited to chemistry that is compatible with an inert atmosphere.

Freeslate Core Module 3 (CM3)

Equipment

Freeslate Core Module 3 (CM3)

• Inert atmosphere
• Solid addition
• Liquid addition (syringe and PDT)
• Stirring and vortexing
• Heating and cooling (-20 °C-180 °C)
• On-deck pressure reactors
• Gravimetric analysis
• Speedvac vacuum centrifuge

 Freeslate SPR

Freeslate SPR

• Pressurized high throughput batch reactor
• Rated to 1000 psi and 400 °C
• Automated control of temperature, mixing, and gas flows

Agilent PL-50 RT-GPC
Agilent PL-220 HT-GPC
Mettler Polymer DSC
Agilent GC

Screening Examples

Epoxide/CO2 Copolymerizations
Epoxide/Anhydride Copolymerizations
Isospecific Epoxide Polymerization
Olefin Polymerization
Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Hydrogenation
Solubility Studies
Kinetics Studies
Optimization of Reaction Conditions and Cocatalysts
Carbonylation of Epoxides

Workflows

Traditional catalyst synthesis, screening and characterization workflows can be scaled down and performed in a fully automated fashion, allowing the user to screen a large number of systems in a fraction of the time required to do so using traditional techniques.   In some cases, modifications will be necessary to adapt the workflow to microscale or to facilitate automated synthesis, screening and characterization.  For instance, metal-ligand combinations may be combined in siturather than use isolated complexes, or pooled analysis will be used in cases where the hit rate is expected to be low.  A typical workflow will include design of experiment using Library Studio and operation of the CM3 and SPR is using Automation Studio.  Anne LaPointe assists with experiment and workflow design and trains users how to use the CM3, SPR, and associated software.