What is the Mya 4 Reaction Station?

I’m Keren from Radleys and I’d like to show you the Mya 4 Reaction Station…

Radleys designed Mya 4 to be a highly flexible tool, allowing you to run 4 experiments completely independently, with heating, cooling and stirring. Being software controlled, Mya 4 is perfect for accurate temperature control, as well as unattended experiments.

We’re talking about one Reaction Station but with a wide variety of accessories to meet your chemistry needs.

Why don’t we start the tour?

Let’s talk about temperature control.

With a block temperature range of -30 to +180 ⁰C typically you can get solution temperatures down to at least -20 ⁰C, and up to +150 ⁰C or more. It’s worth noting that you can get up to 200 ⁰C difference between two zones next to each other. This is perfect for when several users are sharing the unit and are working at very different temperatures.

What about the technology behind the heating and cooling? The heating is performed using heating cartridges in all four zones, and that is for fast but also precise heating. For the cooling we’re using Peltier technology. This means you get active cooling without the need for a chiller*.

*Peltier cells require cooling to dissipate heat (e.g. tap water)

You can control the temperature using the block temperature, with internal Pt100 probes underneath each of the zones. For added accuracy you can also control your temperature by adding external Pt100 probes inside your reaction mixtures.

Read more about how the Mya 4 Reaction Station helped Johnson Matthey and Purolite achieve accurate temperature control on their small-scale experiments.

 

Mya 4 Reaction Station

The Mya 4 comes with built in magnetic stirring in all four zones. You can also add overhead stirring if required.

The Mya 4 compact stirrers provide powerful compact stirring, and can easily handle viscous materials, such as golden syrup. You can then choose the right PTFE paddle for your application between turbine, anchor and U-shaped.

In terms of glassware, we have a wide range available. It’s also very easy to swap between set-ups, to fit in with projects changing or multi-user work.

Mya 4 accepts a wide range of tubes and vials: from HPLC vials to scintillation vials, even microwave tubes for sealed reactions. All you need is the right aluminium insert and you can use your own tubes and vials.

You also have the option of using round bottom flasks from our Carousel 6 Plus range. From 25 ml to 250 ml, with or without side arms.

We offer a range of process vessels: these have straight sides, to mimic reactors on a small scale. These vessels range from 50 ml to 400 ml. The 400 ml would be a vessel that fits directly into the Mya 4, without an insert.

Note: the working volume of these vessels is about 50% of the vessel size; that is if you want to retain good temperature control. We made the choice to not bury the vessel completely inside the insert to ensure visibility of your reaction from above.

Our vessels are designed to give you a really tight seal. The lid that has a flat flange, the vessel has a flat flange, and an O-ring gets compressed between the two when tightening the connecting set. This allows you to hold a vacuum down to 10 mbar.

In terms of options, you have a wide range of accessories: from glass condensers, a variety of funnels, lids, probes and more…

The multi-necks lids are for the process vessels and can also be used with wide-neck round bottom flasks. The glass lids come as 5-neck or 3-neck versions. We have also added PTFE lids to the range: these would be used if you wanted added durability, or flexibility as you could swap the configuration of the lid by changing the adapters.

The temperature probes are available as a couple of options: they come as stainless steel, or the option of PTFE coated is available for added chemical resistance.

We also have a multi-vessel holder. This can be used in different ways when turned: one side for any glassware with a standard neck, one for any wide-neck glassware, and one for Carousel tubes.

In order to accommodate the various glassware options, you will need to attach what we call a ‘head’ to the Mya 4. Our two main options are: the Manifold head, and the Reflux head. These heads do three things:

1. They allow the glassware to be held securely.
2. Connecting water through the back of them will allow for refluxing.
   • In the case of the Reflux head, the head itself will get cold with the water running through it, and as a result the piece of glassware which we call a ‘reflux tube’ will act as a condenser.
   • In the case of the Manifold head, the water will be distributed to four positions, which have quick-connect fittings to allow you to attach mini condensers. With shut-off valves, water won’t run until the quick-connect fittings are engaged: so a very clean and easy set-up.
3. The heads also allow you to have reactions under an inert atmosphere. By having an inert gas connected to the back of the head, you will have gas running through the nozzles. As you use one of the Easy-on caps or connectors for the overhead stirrers, the gas will run through the cap. You can always isolate your reaction by closing the tap on the cap.

Those are your two main options. The Reflux head would be for if you wanted to use short vials/tubes or glassware from the Carousel 6 Plus range with reflux tubes. If you need to use multi-neck lids, such as process-type vessels, then you will need the Manifold head as this is the only head they will fit. You can then have condensers attached to the head.

Finally we have introduced a third head option, for even more flexibility and using your own glassware or accessories, such as your air condenser (Findenser). You could attach this head instead, which is essentially a scaffold: it’s called the Support head and it would allow you to use your own glassware.

The Mya 4 Reaction Station is supplied with a touch-screen Control pad as standard. It is very intuitive and very easy to use. It works with bare fingers, as well as light gloves, and even a stylus pen. The Control pad will control and record everything to do with your temperature and stirring: this might be all you need for most of your experiments.

However, for more complex experiments, or if you wanted to control and log external devices such as syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps or pH meters we have a PC software option for the Mya 4. The PC software also has the time-saving feature of creating detailed reports in only a few clicks.

You can try the Mya 4 Control Software for yourself by downloading it here.

The Control pad: the overview screen shows you what is currently running, what is connected, who is working currently with the Mya 4 – especially useful if you have several users sharing the unit. In the video example, in zone 3 and 4 there is a temperature probe depicted because temperature probes are connected in zones 3 and 4. The same with overhead stirrers in zone 3 and 4, there are connected and the Control pad recognises and displays that. In the other zones, it will show magnetic stirring by default.

Let me show you the rest of the Control pad in a bit more detail…

From this overview screen it’s quite easy to navigate to any of the four zones to set up an experiment – either by using the menu at the side or any of the flasks. If I wanted to run an experiment in zone 1, I could run my experiment in two ways: either in manual mode or in profile mode.

Manual mode is most similar to using a hotplate: I would input my temperature and stirring speed and just walk away. Later if I need to change the temperature or the stirring speed I would come back and input the values – as simple as that.

The other option is to use profile mode. The screen would look slightly different. You could have up to 10 steps in an experiment. When your experiment has been written, you just press play. You will be prompted to rename & save your experiment before starting. Once my experiment starts in profile mode, the first step is highlighted in green showing that this is what is happening. A green line will be moving across the profile timeline to tell me where I am in the experiment.

For any experiment data, or if I wanted to repeat an experiment there’s a file management area that contains all files that have been saved on this Control pad. I could export them via USB or a network folder. I can also select them to repeat an experiment directly by inputting them into one of the zones.

I hope you enjoyed this product tour! If you want any more information on the Mya 4 or would like to see if for yourself, please get in touch.