AutomationHighlightsfromtheLiteratureLABORATORYAUTOMATIONANDHIGH-THROUGHPUTCHEMISTRYRapidMultistepSynthesisof1,2,4-OxadiazolesinaSingleContinuousMicroreactorSequenceAgeneralmethodforthesynthesisofbis-substituted1,2,4-oxadiazolesfromreadilyavailablearylnitrilesandactivatedcarbonylsinasinglecon-tinuousmicroreactorsequenceisdescribedbyN.D.P.Cosfordetal.Thesynthesisincorporatesthreesequentialmicroreactorstoproduce1,2,4-oxa-diazolesinapproximately30mininquantities(40e80mg)sufficientforfullcharacterizationandrapidlibrarysupply(J.Org.Chem.2009,73,7219e23).ExpandingtheChemicalSpaceinPractice:Diversity-OrientedSynthesisDiversity-orientedsynthesis(DOS)aimstobroadenthefrontierofaccessiblecollectionsofcomplexanddiversesmallmolecules.M.Peuch-maurandY.-S.WongdissecttheDOSconceptthroughthreeelementsofdiversity:buildingblock,stereochemistry,andskeleton.Recentexamplesintheliteraturethatemphasizetheefficientcombinationsoftheseelementstogeneratediversityarereported(Comb.Chem.HighThroughputScreen.2008,11,587e601).SelectiveMonolithiationofDibromobiarylsUsingMicroflowSystemsSelectivemonolithiationofdibromobiarylswithoneequivalentofn-butyllithiumfollowedbythere-actionwithelectrophilesisachievedbyJ.-I.Yoshidaetal.usingamicroflowsystembyvirtueoffastmi-cromixingandprecisetemperaturecontrol.Sequen-tialintroductionoftwodifferentelectrophilesbasedonthismethodalsoisachievedusingamicroflowsystemcomposedoffourmicromixersandfourmi-crotubereactors(Org.Lett.2008,10,3937e3940).CombinatorialMaterialsResearchAppliedtotheDevelopmentofNewSurfaceCoatingsX:AHigh-ThroughputElectrochemicalImpedanceSpectroscopyMethodforScreeningOrganicCoatingsforCorrosionInhibitionJ.Heetal.reportahigh-throughputelectrochem-icalimpedancespectroscopy(HT-EIS)methodforrapidandquantitativeevaluationofcorrosionpro-tectivecoatings.A12-element,spatiallyaddressableelectrochemicalplatformhasbeendesigned,fabri-cated,andvalidated.Thisplatformisinterfacedtoacommercialelectrochemicalimpedancespectros-copy(EIS)instrumentthroughanautomatedelec-tronicswitchingunit.TheHT-EISsystemenablesfourparallelEISmeasurementstoberunsimulta-neously,whichsignificantlyreducescharacterizationtimecomparedtothatofserialEISmeasurementsusingamultiplexer.TheperformanceoftheHT-EISsystemisvalidatedusingaseriesofmodelsys-tems,includingaRandlesequivalentcircuit,anKerstinThurow,Ph.D.HilmarWeinmann,Ph.D.Correspondence:HilmarWeinmann,Ph.D.,BayerScheringPharmaAG,GlobalDrugDiscovery,MedicinalChemistryBerlin,D-13342Berlin,Germany;Phone:þ49.30.468.17892;Fax:þ49.30.468.18170;E-mail:Hilmar.Weinmann@bayerhealthcare.com;orKerstinThurow,Ph.D.,UniversityofRostock,InstituteofAutomation,R.Wagner,Street31,18119Rostock,Germany;Phone:þ49.381.498.7800;Fax:þ49.381.498.7802;E-mail:Kerstin.Thurow@uni-rostock.deJALA2009;14:1e5.1535-5535/$36.00Copyrightc2009byTheAssociationforLaboratoryAutomationdoi:10.1016/j.jala.2008.10.002LiteratureHighlightsJALAFebruary20091electrochemicalreaction(Ti/K4FeCN6,K3FeCN6),ahighlyuniformpolymerfilm,andseveralpolymercoatings.There-sultsofthevalidationstudiesshowthattheHT-EISsystemenablesamajorreductionincharacterizationtimeandpro-videshighqualitydatacomparabletodataobtainedwithconventional,single-cellEISmeasurementsystems(J.Comb.Chem.2008,10,704e713).ResinCapsules:PermeableContainersforParallel/CombinatorialSolid-PhaseOrganicSynthesisAresincapsuleisapermeablecontainerforresinbeadsdesignedforcombinatorialsolid-phaseorganicsynthesis.Resincapsulesconsistofahigh-densitypolyethyleneringsealedwithpeekmeshonbothsides.Thecylindricalshapeofresincapsulesenablesspace-savingpackingintoplasticcolumn-likereactionvesselscommonlyusedforsolid-phaseorganicsynthesis.ResincapsulesareevaluatedbyV.Krchnaketal.foruseincombinatorialsynthesis,andasetofmodelcompoundswithexcellentpurityisprepared(J.Comb.Chem.2008,10,714e720).HIGH-THROUGHPUTANALYTICSAmbientMolecularImagingandDepthProfilingofLiveTissuebyLaserAblationElectrosprayIonizationMassSpectrometryInconjunctionwithmassspectrometry,thedemandforatmosphericpressureionizationmethodsthatachieveeffi-cientiongenerationundernative-likeexperimentalcondi-tionsarises.A.VertesandcoworkersfromW.M.KeckInstituteforProteomicsTechnologyandApplications(GeorgeWashingtonUniversity,Washington,DC)presentthelateralmappingofmetabolitedistributionsandtheirvar-iationswithdepthonplantleaveswithlaserablationelectro-sprayionizationmassspectrometry(LAESI-MS)(Anal.Chem.2008,80,4575e4582).Incontrasttoelectrospray-assistedlaserdesorption/ioni-zation,whichalsoreliesonthepostionizationofneutralsinalaserplumbyESI,thelaserenergyusedforLAESIcausesaresonantprocessinwater-richtargets.WiththeESIsourceinaxialsprayingmode,thelaserlight(2940nm)hitsthetarget18mmbelowand5e8mmdown-streamfromthetipoftheemitterandresultsinalaserabla-tionareaof350lmindiameterandadepthof50lm.Detailsoftheproducedablationcratersareinvestigatedbyscanningelectronmicroscopyandcorrelatedwiththere-cordedMSdata.Asanexample,thedistributionofmetabo-litesinthegreenandyellowsectorsofaZebraplantleafisanalyzed.Atthis,over40metabolitesaredetectedand36couldbeassigne