A miniaturised 3D printed polypropylene reactor for online reaction analysis by mass spectrometry

Abstract

A miniaturised polypropylene reactor was fabricated by 3D printing using fused deposition modeling. A stainless steel nanoelectrospray ionisation capillary and a magnetic stir bar were integrated into the reactor during the printing process. The integrated nanoelectrospray ionisation capillary allows direct sampling of a reaction solution without external pumping. It also allows ionisation of the analytes. Therefore, very rapid online mass spectrometric chemical reaction monitoring is possible. Operation of the miniaturised reactor is shown by the online nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry characterisation of a Diels–Alder reaction and the subsequent retro Diels–Alder reaction.