The Chungnam National University team led by chemical engineering professor Kim Dong-pyo said the new "micro reactor" can be made as small as a conventional notebook computer for less than US$2,700 and produce 1.2 tons of diazomethane per year.
"The new device comprising 300 fingertip-size chips can be made at one-one hundredth of the cost of conventional diazomethane production facilities used by chemical companies and large laboratories," Kim said.
Companies around the world produce up to 60 tons of the key material per year to help fight AIDS, with most production being carried out in small quantities for safety reasons. Even very small quantities of around 0.2 parts per million of diazomethane in the air can kill a person.
Kim added that besides being compact and cheap, the reactor can make the highly poisonous chemical in a "closed process" that reduces risk of leakage. Harmless chemical gases are injected into one part of the reactor that are filtered and combined in another area to make the diazomethane.
"The system can be set up near to where the medicinal material is needed," he said. "This reduced accidents in the delivery and storage process."
The university team said it took four years to make the system at cost of around 2.8 billion won (US$2.6 million), and wants to expand work with large chemical companies.
The system, meanwhile, was introduced in last month`s issue of the international journal Angewandte Chemie.
(A045)
Editor: Bambang
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