Reaction & Sample Preparation
The problem
Every experiment — whether it’s small-molecule synthesis, reaction screening, catalyst testing, or polymorph discovery — starts with reliable sample prep. That means weighing solids, transferring liquids, sealing vials, and setting up hundreds of tiny reactions or crystallizations by hand. It’s painstaking work. Powders can be clumpy, static, or sticky. Solvents can evaporate. Capping is something you cannot skip. Doing it all hundreds of times a week isn’t just tedious — it’s nearly impossible. Even small errors in mass, volume, or timing can throw off results, waste material, and make data you can’t trust.
The right tool for the job
Stuntman combines built-in AI with modular hardware to take the pain out of sample prep. It automates every step — weighing powders, dispensing liquids, and sealing vials — with precision and consistency. Turn your natural-language prompts into executable scripts that can orchestrate closed-loop automation from start to finish. Stuntman’s AI helps plan and organize experiments, interpret results, and guide how things progress. Design, execute, and analyze experiments all in one place using Stuntman AI, intuitive drag-and-drop interface workflows, or Python with full API access. Every step is tracked in real time and logged as it happens.
Configure your deck your way to automate sample prep. Adaptive hardware handles everything from sticky powders to volatile solvents, dosing each exactly as intended. Automated capping and sealing keep reactions airtight and reproducible, eliminating drift, contamination, and wasted effort. Whether you’re preparing samples for crystallization, screening reaction conditions, or setting up optimization runs, Stuntman delivers flawless prep every time — so your chemistry starts right, and your data stays clean.
What’s possible
Automated powder dispensing
The fully automated powder dispensing capabilities on Stuntman delivers accurate and precise solid dispenses to complement any workflow. Set up a powder dispensing experiment and Stuntman will take care of the rest with two hopper formats – Classic hoppers and Storage Vial (SV) hoppers. Dispense powders into plates or vials that have been moved into a balance. A powder hopper is aligned to the destination within the balance and gravimetrically dispensed until the target is reached. This process is repeated, switching hoppers and destinations until the experiment setup is complete.
The software tracks how much powder was added to each hopper and knows when it’s running low. Tracking is done across multiple experiments, so you don’t have to stop and open the hopper to see what’s still left. The powder dispensing algorithm slows down or speeds up to reach your target and provides good repeatability (±0.2 mg) for dispenses under 1 mg. A high-sensitivity balance measures the gravimetric dispense in real time and is closed off during the dispense, eliminating air flow disruption.
One-to-many powder dispensing
Large hoppers are ideal for one-to-many dispenses, where the same powder goes into multiple wells. Classic hoppers use a stirring wire to keep solids moving smoothly and prevent clumping, while a valve precisely meters flow. For even finer control, hoppers can be fitted with different valve and funnel sizes to optimize flow for particle size and density. Hoppers are available in 10, 25, 50, and 100 mL volumes, and multiple hoppers of any combination can be mounted on the deck. Adaptive algorithms learn each powder’s flow characteristics, automatically adjusting stirring speed and valve opening to handle everything from free-flowing powders to sticky, cohesive solids.
Dispensing a wide variety
When your typical run requires you to dispense many different powders — for example a catalyst screen — the Storage Vial (SV) hoppers are your best bet. These hoppers work with standard 4 mL glass vials that are outfitted with a disposable dispense head. You can fit dozens of vials on deck, and hundreds off deck. These small hoppers allow for greater flexibility in reagent or reaction screening and can also be tracked and used across multiple experimental runs.
Liquid dispense
Stuntman has numerous options for transferring liquids. Positive Displacement Tips (PDTs) handle everything from volatile solvents to viscous reagents and slurries, spanning 10 µL to 10 mL. Wide-bore needles keep slurries and suspensions flowing without clogs. Solvents can be drawn from on-deck or off-deck sources, ranging from a few microliters to hundreds of milliliters.
Every liquid type is individually calibrated, so every dispense hits the target — no drips, no waste, no surprises. In reaction screening, that means uniform reagent delivery across every well, vial, or plate — giving you consistent chemistry and data you can trust.
Piercing tips come into play when you need to handle volatile reagents or solvents without evaporation. The heated, spreadable six-tip head runs up to 120 °C, keeping reagents soluble through temperature-sensitive workflows. Adjustable spacing from 9–20 mm fits everything from 96-well plates to larger vials, so you can move easily between discovery and development formats. The 6-tip includes an extendable tip if you just need one solution at a time, and the head can be put into 4-tip mode if that’s a better format for you.
For sealed-vial workflows, Stuntman’s piercing needles on the heated 6-tip work seamlessly with automated capping and septum access. Volatile or air-sensitive reagents stay contained and stable from setup to sampling.
Capping and crimping
Consistent sealing is key to reproducible chemistry. Whether you’re working with volatile solvents, moisture-sensitive reagents, or sealed-vessel reactions, Stuntman automates capping, decapping, and crimping to keep every sample airtight and secure
For microwave or pressure reactions, uniform sealing ensures pressure stability and eliminates solvent loss, while septum caps make it easy to add or sample reagents without breaking containment. The automated system can handle screw caps, crimp caps, and septa-sealed vials of various sizes — tightening, loosening, or re-sealing in sequence during setup or analysis.
Labeling and tracking
Keeping track of hundreds of samples across plates or vials can be a challenge. Stuntman can be equipped with labeling and tracking features that bring order to even the busiest decks. Each vial or plate can be barcoded and logged automatically, linking reagent additions, dispensing steps, and sealing operations to the exact experiment they belong to. This level of traceability ensures data integrity across large screens or multi-day runs — no mix-ups, no lost samples, and a complete audit trail when you need it.
Integrations
With Stuntman, the integrations and add-ons are endless. Use Stuntman’s built-in AI or Python API to connect with your own tools and data systems, or AI and machine learning platforms. Drop in modules your workflow calls for or hook it up to third party systems for prep, processing or analysis. Keep expanding as your science evolves.
Stuntman
Stuntman has natural-language AI embedded directly into the system to help plan and design smarter experiments, close the loop faster, and adapt as conditions change, while hardware is configured upfront to fit your workflow. The result is faster iteration, more informative data, and automation that finally keeps pace with real science, whether you’re working in chemistry, biologics, materials, or beyond.
Want more info?
Every lab has different bottlenecks and challenges. We’re all about partnering with you to build the bespoke solution that lets you do science faster and better. Have questions or can’t wait to speak with our expert team to find out what might be possible?