CHemical Reaction Integrated System (CHRIS)

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a software suite --Chemical Reaction Integrated System (CHRIS)--that functions to analyze the data from small volume chemicals reactions collected using mass spectrometry techniques. Pharmaceutical and chemical companies often need to develop new chemical methodologies to achieve high yield of targeted compounds. This challenging feat is increasingly accomplished by utilizing high throughput chemical reactions in which reactions are performed under a variety of conditions at small volumes. Although this methodology has been utilized, the technology is limited by the need to separately make and analyze small amounts of reaction products. This limits the rate at which new targets can be generated and it represents a bottleneck in drug (and other high-value chemical) development.

Purdue University researchers have mitigated this limitation by performing the reactions in microdroplets generated in high throughput chemical reaction analysis controlled by custom software. This software utilizes a camera to follow precise positions of spotted samples on high density plates which are examined individually by mass spectrometry, allowing for precise detection of ions from specific locations on the high throughput chemical reaction plate. The software input includes a spreadsheet detailing the reaction information and plate layout. The output can be through a variety of methods including graphical interface, a web browser, as well as a spreadsheet. This technology can also compare several possible chemical reactions using an intuitive graphical user interface, making the data visualization very intuitive. Implementation of this software in pharmaceutical and chemical companies will revolutionize high throughput chemical reactions and provide companies and academics with new chemical methodologies to produce chemical products.

Related Publication:

High-throughput screening of organic reactions in microdroplets using desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): hardware and software implementation

Analytical Methods, Vol. 12, Iss. 28

https://doi.org/10.1039/D0AY00072H

Technology Validation: The researchers tested CHRIS with three different classes of reactions, demonstrating the effects on reproducibility and false negatives rates with different normalized peak intensity cutoffs. With the selected cutoff, the system demonstrated 94-97% reproducibility and a 6% false negative rate.

Advantages

- Increase throughput of chemical reactions

- Real-time analysis

- Automated

Applications

- High throughput experimentation analysis

- Chemical reaction optimization

- Drug development

TRL: 3

Intellectual Property:

Keywords: Chemical Reaction Integrated System, CHRIS, mass spectrometry, high throughput chemical reactions, microdroplets, drug development, chemical reaction optimization, high throughput experimentation analysis, automated analysis, real-time analysis, chemical reaction, chemical reaction pathways, Chemistry and Chemical Analysis, desorption electrospray ionization, high throughput