Today our master’s student Mari Ojakivi submitted her thesis. She studied the reactions between 7 aldehydes and 4 nitrogen bases in charged droplets. For this, she built an in-house built electrospray system to generate the charged droplets. Mostly imines were observed as reaction products, but also amides were found in some reactions. For comparison, the same reactions were also carried out in the bulk phase under similar conditions. All of the above shows that reactions occur and are accelerated in charged droplets compared to the reactions happening in the bulk phase under similar conditions. Moreover, the reaction pathways are different compared to bulk solution reactions. Though the mechanisms of the reactions are still unknown, Mari showed that charged droplets are a new potent media for carrying out reactions since the reactions are accelerated compared to bulk phase and new reaction pathways may be found.
Mari will defend her thesis on the 3rd of June and will continue to explore the possibilities offered by charged droplets in her doctoral studies.