Automated and remote synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol)-mineralized ZIF-8 composite particles via a synthesizer assisted by femtosecond laser micromachining

Mineralization of the ZIF-8 in the presence of biomacromolecules has been demonstrated to be a general way for making bioentities@ZIFs composites. The ZIF-8 crystals permit controlled storage and utilization of the bioentities, thus can benefit drug delivery, cold-chain breaking etc. With the increasing needs on personal care and distributed manufacturing, automated synthesis controlled by a computer becomes the next challenge. In this work, we designed an automatic synthesis system to prepare PEG mineralized ZIF-8 composite particles. This system is based on flow chemistry with the microfluidic chips fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining. The particles were synthesized and monitored automatically. Furthermore, this synthesizer could be extended for fabrication of vaccine particles under remote control through internet. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Automated summary

This research demonstrates the general approach of mineralizing ZIF-8 in the presence of biomacromolecules to create bioentities@ZIFs composites. An automatic synthesis system based on flow chemistry and microfluidic chips was designed to prepare PEG mineralized ZIF-8 composite particles. The system allows for remote control fabrication of vaccine particles.