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He attended Franklin & Marshall College and received his B.A. in Chemistry in 2004. In the Fall of 2004, Andrew entered the graduate program in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University and joined the research group of D. Tyler McQuade. His research currently involves the development of microreactors packed with solid-supported catalysts to be used in the continuous processing of small molecules and pharmaceutical agents. Kristin E. Price was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1979. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from Franklin & Marshall College in 2001. In August 2006, she completed her doctoral work under the guidance of Prof. D. Tyler McQuade at Cornell University.

The synthesis of complex molecules requires control over both chemical reactivity and reaction conditions. While reactivity drives the majority of chemical discovery, advances in reaction condition control have accelerated method development/discovery. Recent tools include automated synthesizers and flow reactors. In this Synopsis, we describe how flow reactors have enabled chemical advances in our groups in the areas of single-stage reactions, materials synthesis, and multistep reactions. In each section, we detail the lessons learned and propose future directions.

A simple approach to a microfluidic device is described. The device is composed of flexible tubing and a needle inserted orthogonal to the long axis of the tubing. This design is well suited to creating oil-water interfaces allowing the formation of laminar flows and monodisperse emulsions. The system is characterized by mapping the phases observed as a function of organic phase flow and Reynolds number. In addition, the device allows interfacial polymerization reactions to capture low coefficient of variation capsules. The shell structure and surface are examined by scanning electron microscopy.