Abstract

The Use of Microfluidic Reactors for the Synthesis of Biomedical Materials

Paul Watts, Distinguished Professor and Research Chair, Nelson Mandela University

‘Flow chemistry’ has become very popular in industry, as throughout the numerous stages of product development there are many associated risks, potentially none as costly as the failure to scale a synthetic process to achieve the required production capacity; flow processing can substantially address this problem. However the volume of such production systems can be large and complementary technology at a microfluidic scale is needed to enable more efficient scale up to production. In this talk, we will present an overview of chemical reactions conducted in these reactors and highlight where the sustainability of processes may be improved. In particle we will highlight dedicated microfluidic systems for radiopharmaceutical product and nanoparticle synthesis.