Controlled perturbation of the thermodynamic equilibrium by microfluidic separation of porphyrin-based aggregates in a multi-component self-assembling system.

In a microfluidic H-cell, a multi-component self-assembled system is brought out-of-equilibrium by changing the bimodal composition of porphyrin stacks and pyridine-capped dimers. Driven by their different diffusivities, diffusion-controlled separation in methylcyclohexane reveals different compositions when detected in-line and off-line, which demonstrates the kinetic behaviour of this metastable system. The microfluidic technique also proves to be highly equipped to determine diffusion constants of the different assemblies.