Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Synthesis

Chemotaxis

Acidic Droplet Solves Maze

by Bethany Halford
January 18, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 3

Maze Maneuvers
[+]Enlarge
Credit: J. Am. Chem. Soc.
A droplet travels through a maze with a pH gradient. In the overlaid image, black drops show early times, red ones are later.
Credit: J. Am. Chem. Soc.
A droplet travels through a maze with a pH gradient. In the overlaid image, black drops show early times, red ones are later.

In the scientific world, solving mazes used to be the dominion of experimental psychologists. Now chemists are getting in on the action, but they've swapped the traditional lab rat for a drop of liquid. A team led by Northwestern University chemistry professor Bartosz A. Grzybowski has shown that an acidic droplet can successfully navigate a complex maze (J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja9076793).

"I personally find most exciting that such a simple system can exhibit apparently 'intelligent' behavior," Louisiana State University chemistry professor John A. Pojman comments. "This approach may be useful as a pumping method for microfluidics or a way to convert chemical energy to mechanical motion in small devices. I am eager to see if they can generalize it to other types of gradients," he says.

The droplet, composed of 2-hexyldecanoic acid in either dichloromethane or mineral oil, travels several centimeters through a maze with a pH gradient. The pH is high at the maze entrance and low at its exit. Once in the maze, the droplet travels toward the lower pH, and in doing so, Grzybowski notes, it always finds the shortest path through the maze.

Maze Maneuvers
Credit: J. Am. Chem. Soc.
A droplet travels through a maze with a pH gradient. In the overlaid image, black drops show early times, red ones are later.

Acid-base chemistry and surface tension are what drive the drop. "The interfacial reaction between the acid in the drop and the base in the channel creates convection rolls or 'swirls,' " Grzybowski explains. "The fluid mechanics plays out such that the swirl facing lower pH is more pronounced, and so the drop is effectively pushed in this direction."

A droplet travels through a maze with a pH gradient.

Advertisement

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.