Microfluidics technologies hyphenated with analytical sensing technologies - positioning mass spectrometry

In life, chemical and material sciences a growing need in a fundamental understanding in “molecular processes” is posing great challenges for analytical scientist. They are more and more expected to “image” biochemical or metabolic pathways, control complex industrial processes and correlate molecular composition to bioactivity or “material” properties. Microfluidics systems are essential in research and early development phases to gain insight. E.g. understanding polymerization processes at micro-scale or control of feedstock quality are of pivotal importance, and industrial examples will be discussed. This especially holds true for the quality required of polymers in biomedical materials. In life Science and Chemistry, “Organ-on-the-Chip” and micro flow reactors are already considered essential to translate knowledge from research to final industrial processes. In this presentation, the role of “micro rectors” in analytical sciences will be illustrated, while the main focus will be on the positioning of different analytical tools in “flow-chemistry”. Special attention will be given to advanced MS approaches, ionization technologies and Ion Mobility Spectrometry in support of homogeneous catalyzed chemistry, stereo selective chemistry and bio catalysis.