Automated Chemistry

To be defined

Science is the rational approach to address the unknown. Meanwhile, process automation demands defined systems and boundary conditions. Is it possible to automate processes in which the results are undetermined? We search for a practical strategy to automate experimental research and impact investigation efficiency. More and more lab operations (reactions, separation, and analytics) utilize automatic platforms; however, most experiments are manually handled in practice, especially in chemical laboratories. Despite the exciting possibilities envisioned through self-driving labs, automated experimentation is currently economically prohibited, challenging to implement and troubleshoot, and lacks a standardized data handling approach.

We aim to balance the flexibility required for scientific discovery with the robustness granted by standard automated operations. Addressing machine-drive research from physical, chemical, and engineering perspectives, we attempt to design a platform for the democratization of automated experimentation. For that purpose, we are especially interested in:

• Theoretical description and process parametrization.
• Design and optimize automated experimental platforms (set-ups for reaction studies, molecule assembly, and determination of physicochemical properties).
• Translating reaction kinetics and thermodynamics into complex molecule synthesis.