Isolating Reactions at the Picoliter Scale: Parallel Control of Reaction Kinetics at the Liquid–Liquid Interface

Miniaturized liquid–liquid interfacial reactors offer enhanced surface area and rapid confinement of compounds of opposite solubility, yet they are unable to provide in situ reaction monitoring at a molecular level at the interface. A picoreactor operative at the liquid–liquid interface is described, comprising plasmonic colloidosomes containing Ag octahedra strategically assembled at the water-in-decane emulsion interface. The plasmonic colloidosomes isolate ultrasmall amounts of solutions (<200 pL), allowing parallel monitoring of multiple reactions simultaneously. Using the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique, in situ monitoring of the interfacial protonation of dimethyl yellow (p-dimethylaminoazobenzene (DY)) is performed, revealing an apparent rate constant of 0.09 min⁻¹for the first-order reaction. The presence of isomeric products with similar physical properties is resolved, which would otherwise be indiscernible by other analytical methods.