The evolution of the Purdue Automated Synthesis System
Abstract
Organic synthesis is an extremely labor intensive field. Much experimental effort is spent developing, analyzing, and optimizing reactions. This work tends to be tedious and repetitive, making it a prime target for automation. This thesis describes the design and construction of the Purdue Automated Synthesis System (PASS), a robotic system which is intended to perform laboratory-scale, automated organic syntheses. PASS consists of automated reactors, automated liquid and gas chromatographs, and a variety of other peripherals used in the synthesis process. Materials are transported between all these devices by two Zymate Il robots. A control network, consisting of an executive computer surrounded by 8-bit managerial computers, coordinates the activities of the system. Since this project has been a group effort, only certain aspects of the system are described here in great detail. Chapter 1 looks at earlier versions of PASS and gives a general overview of the present system, PASS-2. Chapter 2 outlines the extensive modifications that were needed to incorporate a Hewlett-Packard HP-1090M HPLC into the system. Chapter 3 describes the development of the vial transport device known as the Trans-Robotic Analyte Interchange Network. Chapter 4 goes over the design and construction of the reactor substation used in PASS, while Chapter 5 examines the testing of the hardware using a real chemical reaction, the iodination of phenol. Chapter 6 details the user interface program, SCREEN PASS, that will ultimately be used by the organic chemist to make up an experiment on the system, and finally, Chapter 7 provides a brief evaluation of the entire system.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Fuchs, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Organic chemistry|Analytical chemistry
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