Recently, chemical operations with microfluidic devices, especially droplet-based operations, have attracted considerable attention because they can provide an isolated small-volume reaction field. However, analysis of these operations has been limited mostly to aqueous-phase reactions in water droplets due to device material restrictions. In this study, we have successfully demonstrated droplet formation of five common organic solvents frequently used in chemical synthesis by using a simple silicon/glass-based microfluidic device. When an immiscible liquid with surfactant was used as the continuous phase, the organic solvent formed droplets similar to water-in-oil droplets in the device. In contrast to conventional microfluidic devices composed of resins, which are susceptible to swelling in organic solvents, the developed microfluidic device did not undergo swelling owing to the high chemical resistance of the constituent materials. Therefore, the device has potential applications for various chemical reactions involving organic solvents. Furthermore, this droplet generation device enabled control of droplet size by adjusting the liquid flow rate. The droplet generation method proposed in this work will contribute to the study of organic reactions in microdroplets and will be useful for evaluating scaling effects in various chemical reactions.

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化学合成中有机溶剂微滴生成方法的开发

最近，微流体装置的化学操作，特别是基于液滴的操作，由于它们可以提供一个孤立的小体积反应场，引起了相当多的关注。然而，由于设备材料的限制，对这些操作的分析主要限于水滴中的水相反应。在这项研究中，我们通过使用简单的基于硅/玻璃的微流体装置成功地证明了化学合成中常用的五种常见有机溶剂的液滴形成。当与表面活性剂不混溶的液体用作连续相时，有机溶剂在装置中形成类似于油包水液滴的液滴。与传统的由树脂组成的微流体装置相比，树脂容易在有机溶剂中溶胀，由于构成材料的高耐化学性，开发的微流体装置没有发生膨胀。因此，该装置在涉及有机溶剂的各种化学反应中具有潜在的应用。此外，该液滴生成装置能够通过调节液体流速来控制液滴尺寸。这项工作中提出的液滴生成方法将有助于研究微液滴中的有机反应，并将有助于评估各种化学反应中的结垢效应。