Understanding the interaction between a chemical species and the solvent is important for controlling chemical reactions. However, those interactions can be difficult to probe directly <i>in situ</i> while a reaction is occurring. By designing and creating a reaction vessel that enables spectroscopic study of a progressing chemical reaction, information about the nature and evolution of the species and solvent effects present in that reaction can be obtained. Millifluidic reaction vessels were 3-D printed using PLA plastic and glass panels to allow for spectroscopic measurements of a constantly flowing reaction mixture. This setup was then used to collect time resolved UV-Vis spectra of a progressing iodine clock reaction. In this reaction potassium iodate is mixed with a solution containing soluble starch, sodium metabisulfite, and sulfuric acid to produce a delayed visible color change corresponding to formation of an iodine starch complex. The clock reaction was conducted in pure water and varying concentrations of methanol, ethanol and 1-propanol to observe the effect of the solvent on the reaction. It was observed that both increasing the length of the carbon chain on the alcohol and increasing the amount of the alcohol present caused a decrease in the wavelength of maximum absorbance in the product complex. However, the presence of an alcohol does not appear to affect the rate of the reaction.

Probing solvent effects on an iodine clock reaction using millifluidic devices

254th National Meeting (2017)

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