Osmotic reaction detector for monitoring biological and non-biological reactions
First Claim
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1. A method for monitoring reactivity in reactions between a first and second material of interest, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing an osmotic reaction detector comprising a semi-permeable membrane and a pressure sensor;
b) introducing one of a reaction mixture and a reference solution into said osmotic reaction detector, said reaction mixture comprising a carrier fluid, a first material of interest and a second material of interest and said reference solution comprising any one or combination of the first material, the second material, a surrogate reference material and a carrier fluid;
c) positioning said osmotic reaction detector such that said semi-permeable membrane is in fluid contact with and positioned between said reaction mixture and said reference solution; and
d) monitoring an output from said pressure sensor after the positioning of said osmotic reaction detector, wherein any changes in pressure occur as a result of a change in concentration in said reaction mixture of one or more of said first material, second material, surrogate reference material or reaction products formed from said first and second materials.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for measuring the presence or absence of reaction between a first and second material of interest by measuring osmotic pressure changes of reaction detector. The reaction detector is capable of measuring the small changes in pressure that occur due to osmotic pressure shifts during a catalytic or binding reaction at species concentrations down to approximately 10−7 M.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring reactivity in reactions between a first and second material of interest, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an osmotic reaction detector comprising a semi-permeable membrane and a pressure sensor;
b) introducing one of a reaction mixture and a reference solution into said osmotic reaction detector, said reaction mixture comprising a carrier fluid, a first material of interest and a second material of interest and said reference solution comprising any one or combination of the first material, the second material, a surrogate reference material and a carrier fluid;
c) positioning said osmotic reaction detector such that said semi-permeable membrane is in fluid contact with and positioned between said reaction mixture and said reference solution; and
d) monitoring an output from said pressure sensor after the positioning of said osmotic reaction detector, wherein any changes in pressure occur as a result of a change in concentration in said reaction mixture of one or more of said first material, second material, surrogate reference material or reaction products formed from said first and second materials. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An osmotic reaction detector for monitoring reactivity in reactions between a first material of interest and a second material of interest by measuring pressure changes in said detector as a result of a change in concentration of impermeable species in said detector, said detector comprising:
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a body defining an interior chamber;
a semi-permeable membrane incorporated within said body, wherein said semi-permeable membrane is impermeable to said first and second materials of interest and reaction products formed therefrom and permeable to a carrier fluid; and
a pressure sensor for measuring charges in osmotic pressure of the detector. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for monitoring reactivity in biological reactions, the method comprising measuring osmotic pressure changes in a reaction detector comprising a semi-permeable membrane, said method capable of measuring pressure changes as low as 1.2 N/m2.
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