Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on Reconfigurable Paperfluidics

We discuss the use of paperfluidic devices for the synthesis of molecules and nanoparticles using Asynchronous Modular Paperfluidic Linear Instrument-free (Ampli) blocks, which are paper membranes on blocks that can be interlocked together in different configurations. Reagents are embedded into the paper membranes of each block, and blocks are snapped together in a desired sequence for a chemical reaction. The reaction is initiated by adding solvent to the first block, which allows the reagents to flow from one block to the next. We synthesized both gold nanoparticles and pharmaceutically relevant small molecules. Extracted reaction products were characterized using Raman, optical absorption, and dynamic light scattering spectroscopies. Kinetics of reactions and parameters for reaction optimization will be discussed. Ampli blocks allow small scale, on-demand synthesis of molecules and thus can potentially enable de-centralized chemical production, which has the potential to address the challenges associated with supply chains in pharmaceutical distribution. Furthermore, because Ampli blocks can be easily reconfigurable by the enduser, it can be deployed in extreme environments by non-trained experts.