The START system is as valuable for original research as it is for teaching. Researchers in the academic world need access to the same advanced research methods as their counterparts in industry. Sometimes, the need is competitive: how to "keep up" and do worthwhile research when industrial labs can run the same reactions faster and with greater purity? At other times, the need is collaborative: there are often benefits to be realized when researchers in different organizations, even across the academic/industrial divide, coordinate their research, sharing both data and methodology.

To outfit the START labstation for advanced chemistry, Milestone provides the Research Lab Kit. The kit's unique MonoPREP module (see photo)—the same module that Milestone supplies to the professional world—is designed for safe reaction optimization at elevated temperatures and pressures, using a single 12 mL or 50 mL glass reactor vessel.

The special air flow pattern in the MonoPREP provides the fastest cooling on the market, to minimize post-processing delays and extend the life of your reactor vessels. The kit includes a versatile set of reactor vessel covers, including a reflux-style pressure venting mechanism, a gravity-based pressure valve for work at slightly elevated pressures, and special high-pressure valves. Researchers can work at temperatures up to 180 °C, and pressures up to 15 bar (225 psi).

This kit, combined with the EasyControl software mentioned earlier, is an ideal tool for method development. The time/temperature curve of the reaction carried out by the researcher can be documented for GLP or QA purposes, simply by connecting the terminal to any printer. Reactions optimized in the MonoPREP can also be transferred to the Teaching Lab Kit for instructional purposes, or scaled up to the 500 mL batch reflux reactor.