Chemically sensitive high-throughput parallel analysis of resin bead-supported combinatorial libraries

In this study, the feasibility of using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging for high throughput screening of resin bead supported combinatorial libraries was investigated. FTIR imaging combines the chemical specificity and high sensitivity of infrared spectroscopy with the ability to rapidly analyze multiple samples simultaneously. A new implementation, using a rapid-scan spectrometer instead of a step-scan spectrometer, which had been used in all previous infrared imaging studies, allows much faster collection times without decreasing data quality. Using several model systems, it was established that FTIR imaging is well suited to perform high throughput parallel analysis of ligands supported on polystyrene-based resins. It was found that both parallel identification of selected members of a resin-supported library and parallel studies of in situ reaction kinetics on bead supported ligands are possible using the FTIR imaging system. In short, Fourier transform infrared imaging can be employed as a powerful spectroscopic tool for the parallel investigation of combinatorial libraries.