Elsevier

Talanta

Volume 126, 1 August 2014, Pages 110-115
Talanta

Short communication
3D-printed and CNC milled flow-cells for chemiluminescence detection

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2014.03.047Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Chemiluminescence flow-cells constructed by 3D-printing or machining.

  • Aluminum flow-cell holder increases the transfer of light to the photodetector.

  • A new spilt channel flow-cell with two detection zones was constructed and evaluated.

Abstract

Herein we explore modern fabrication techniques for the development of chemiluminescence detection flow-cells with features not attainable using the traditional coiled tubing approach. This includes the first 3D-printed chemiluminescence flow-cells, and a milled flow-cell designed to split the analyte stream into two separate detection zones within the same polymer chip. The flow-cells are compared to conventional detection systems using flow injection analysis (FIA) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with the fast chemiluminescence reactions of an acidic potassium permanganate reagent with morphine and a series of adrenergic phenolic amines.

Introduction

For chemiluminescence detection involving fast chemical reactions, the analyte and the reagent must be reproducibly and efficiently mixed shortly prior to entering (or even within) a detection zone that permits the transfer of emitted light to a photodetector [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. The most commonly used chemiluminescence flow-cells designed for this purpose comprise a flat coil of glass or polymer tubing connected to a T or Y-piece at which the reactant solutions merge and enter the coil [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. However, the recent fabrication of chemiluminescence flow-cells by etching or milling channels into polymer materials [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16] have enabled more reproducible construction, the introduction of features such as reversing turns to enhance mixing efficiency, and the exploration of alternative configurations and materials, in efforts to transfer a greater proportion of the emitted light to the photodetector. In this paper, we exploit these recent advances in construction techniques to develop a polymer flow-cell that divides the analyte stream towards two separate zones for reaction with two different chemiluminescence reagents. We also examine, for the first time, the feasibility of creating chemiluminescence detection flow-cells using a simple 3D-printing technique. We evaluate these novel analytical devices in direct comparison with conventional approaches to flow-cell construction and flow-splitting using the fast chemiluminescence reactions of permanganate with various phenolic amines (morphine, octopamine, synephrine, tyramine, and hordenine), utilizing flow injection analysis (FIA) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methodology.

Section snippets

Flow injection analysis

The instrument manifold was constructed as previously described [13], comprising a Gilson Minipuls 3 peristaltic pump (John Morris Scientific, Balwyn, VIC, Australia) with bridged PVC pump tubing (1.02 mm i.d.; DKSH) and Valco six-port injection valve (SGE, Ringwood, VIC, Australia) with 70 μL injection loop. With each change of flow-cell, the housing was re-sealed and left for 40 min to avoid the temporary increase in baseline signal that was observed under the most sensitive settings. All tubing

Selection of chemiluminescence reactions

For the FIA comparisons of flow-cells, we selected the widely used permanganate and morphine in acidic solution as an example of the many fast chemiluminescence reactions between oxidizing agents and organic analytes [3], [20], [21], [22], [23]. The rate (and therefore the chemiluminescence intensity) of this reaction can be enhanced by a preliminary partial reduction of permanganate to create a stable, high concentration of Mn(III) in the reagent solution [19], [24]. The operation of the

Conclusions

These findings show that 3D-printing is a viable option for the fabrication of chemiluminescence detection flow-cells, which under some circumstances provided greater detection of the emitted light than the conventional coiled tubing approach. It is likely that the 3D-printing of flow-cells using white polymer materials would produce even better performance, comparable with the best flow-cells constructed by high precision milling. The new flow-cell holder significantly improved the transfer of

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Deakin University and the Australian Research Council (Future Fellowship FT100100646) for funding this research.

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