Apparatus and method for spatially detecting or quantifying chemical species
First Claim
1. An apparatus for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said apparatus comprising:
- (1) a capillary having a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species;
(2) a means for delivering at least one fluid medium into a space inside said capillary; and
(3) a means for transferring a content of said capillary to a detector for detecting said at least one chemical species, said content comprising said fluid medium and said at least one chemical species.
18 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus provides for the detection, the determination of the location or the spatial distribution, and/or the quantification of an amount of a chemical species by allowing the chemical species to come into contact with a fluid medium contained in a permeable capillary, transferring the content of the capillary after the contact to a detector, and detecting the chemical species as the content of the capillary is transferred to a detector. The fluid medium can contain a selected reagent that selectively interacts with the chemical species to produce an optically detectable interaction product. The location and amount of the chemical species are determined from a characteristic of the chemical species or its interaction product measured on the content of the capillary and the time at which the characteristic is detected. The apparatus may be used in a method for detecting, determining the location or the spatial distribution of, and quantifying a wide range of chemical compounds, such as for monitoring chemicals in environment and industrial facilities and determining products in a combinatorial experiment.
3 Citations
50 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said apparatus comprising:
-
(1) a capillary having a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species;
(2) a means for delivering at least one fluid medium into a space inside said capillary; and
(3) a means for transferring a content of said capillary to a detector for detecting said at least one chemical species, said content comprising said fluid medium and said at least one chemical species. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. An apparatus for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said apparatus comprising:
-
(1) a capillary having a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species;
(2) a means for delivering at least one fluid medium comprising at least one reagent into a space inside said capillary, said at least one reagent being capable of undergoing a selective interaction with said chemical species to yield at least one optically detectable interaction product; and
(3) a means for transferring a content of said capillary to a detector for detecting said at least one optically detectable interaction product, thereby detecting said at least one chemical species, said content comprising said at least one optically detectable interaction product. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24)
-
-
23. An apparatus for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said apparatus comprising:
-
(1) a capillary having a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species;
(2) a means for delivering at least one fluid medium comprising at least one reagent into a space inside said capillary, said at least one reagent being capable of undergoing a selective interaction with said chemical species to yield at least one optically detectable interaction product; and
(3) a means for transferring a content of said capillary to a detector for detecting said at least one optically detectable interaction product, thereby detecting said at least one chemical species, said content comprising said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
wherein said capillary comprises a polymeric material selected from the group consisting of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (“
PTFE”
), poly(vinyl chloride) (“
PVC”
), poly(vinyl alcohol) (“
PVA”
), polyurethane, polyolefins, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyamide, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (“
PVDF”
), polyarylsuphones, polyacrylonitrile, polyether, poly(ether thioether), poly(methyl methacrylate), polyvinylpyrrolidone, polysiloxane, copolymer of perfluorosulfonic acid and polytetrafluoroethylene, random copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluoro-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxole, copolymers thereof, and blends thereof;
said detector is capable of quantitatively relating an optical signal resulting from a presence and an amount of said at least one optically detectable reaction product to said presence and said amount of said chemical species outside said capillary; and
said optical signal is selected from the group consisting of absorbance and emission of EM radiation having a wavelength in a range from about 100 nm to about 1 mm.
-
-
25. A method for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said method comprising:
-
(1) providing a capillary having two opposed ends and a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species at a location where said chemical species is suspected to be present;
(2) delivering at least one fluid medium into a space inside said capillary;
(3) providing at least one detector having a sensing element for detecting said at least one characteristic of said at least one chemical species;
(4) allowing said chemical species to permeate through said wall of said capillary;
(5) transferring a content of said capillary to said sensing element of said detector after a permeation of said at least one chemical species into said capillary, said content comprising said fluid medium and said at least one chemical species;
(6) detecting and measuring a magnitude of said characteristic of said at least one chemical species;
(7) measuring a time at which said characteristic is detected and measured; and
(8) relating said magnitude of said characteristic to said amount of said chemical species and relating said time to said location of said chemical species. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said method comprising:
-
(1) providing a capillary having two opposed ends and a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species at a location where said chemical species is suspected to be present;
(2) delivering at least one fluid medium comprising at least one reagent into a space inside said capillary, said at least one reagent being capable of undergoing a selective interaction with said chemical species to yield at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(3) providing at least one detector having a sensing element for detecting said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(4) allowing said chemical species to permeate through said wall of said capillary and selectively interact with said reagent to yield said at least one optically detectable product;
(5) transferring, after said selective interaction, a content of said capillary to said sensing element of said detector, said content comprising said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(6) detecting and measuring a magnitude of an optical signal resulting from a presence of said at least one optically detectable product;
(7) measuring a time at which said optical signal is detected and measured; and
(8) relating said magnitude of said optical signal to said amount of said chemical species and relating said time to said location of said chemical species. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
46. A method for detecting a presence, determining a location, and quantifying an amount of at least a chemical species, said method comprising:
-
(1) providing a capillary having two opposed ends and a wall that is permeable to said at least one chemical species at a location where said chemical species is suspected to be present;
(2) delivering at least one fluid medium comprising at least one reagent into a space inside said capillary, said at least one reagent being capable of undergoing a selective interaction with said chemical species to yield at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(3) providing at least one detector having a sensing element for detecting said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(4) allowing said chemical species to permeate through said wall of said capillary and react with said reagent to yield said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(5) transferring, after said reaction, a content of said capillary to said sensing element of said detector, said content comprising said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(6) detecting and measuring a magnitude of an optical signal resulting from a presence of said at least one optically detectable interaction product;
(7) measuring a time at which said optical signal is detected and measured; and
(8) relating said magnitude of said optical signal to said amount of said chemical species and relating said time to said location of said chemical species;
wherein said capillary comprises a polymeric material selected from the group consisting of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (“
PTFE”
), poly(vinyl chloride) (“
PVC”
), poly(vinyl alcohol) (“
PVA”
), polyurethane, polyolefins, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyamide, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (“
PVDF”
), polyarylsuphones, polyacrylonitrile, polyether, poly(ether thioether), poly(methyl methacrylate), polyvinylpyrrolidone, polysiloxane, copolymer of perfluorosulfonic acid and polytetrafluoroethylene, random copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluoro-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxole, copolymers thereof, and blends thereof;
said detector is capable of quantitatively relating an optical signal resulting from a presence and an amount of said at least one optically detectable reaction product to said presence and said amount of said chemical species outside said capillary; and
said optical signal is selected from the group consisting of absorbance and emission of EM radiation having a wavelength in a range from about 100 nm to about 1 mm. - View Dependent Claims (47)
-
Specification