In-situ real-time monitoring of chemical kinetics by an automated micro-reaction device

Chemical kinetics plays an important role in the fields of chemical synthesis, pharmaceutical, environmental protection, and the study of related detection technology and devices is of great significance. This study presents an automated micro-reaction device capable of performing automated injection, reaction, and in-situ real-time monitoring of product concentration to analyze chemical kinetics. By designing microfluidic chips with micropore and microchannel structures, the device can precisely control the mixing of the reactants (µL scale) with one click and monitor the whole reaction process from time zero. Compared to traditional point-based detection methods, this device can obtain kinetic information of reaction rate, reaction order, and product concentration with micro samples under conditions where the equation of the chemical reaction is unknown, while avoiding errors caused by manual operation during the reaction process. The experimental results demonstrate that the device’s ability to accurately detect both spontaneous and excited fluorescence products, with a minimum detection unit of 0.0217 g/mL. This study realized the monitoring of chemical reactions with fast reaction rates, small reactant volumes, and complex reaction processes. It provides a feasible method and reliable equipment for tracing complex reactions in medicine, chemical industry, and environmental fields.