Acceleration of an enzymatic reaction in a microchip.

micro total analysis systems (μ-TAS),1 or labs-on-a-chip,2 have become of major interest, especially to analytical chemists due to its desirable characteristics, such as reduction in reagent consumption, required space, and analysis time. Taking these advantages, we have demonstrated many applications, including flow-injection analysis,3,4 solvent extraction,5–7 immunoassay,8,9 organic synthesis10 and laser reaction control.11 There have been, however, no intensive studies focused on chemical or biochemical reactions themselves in a liquid microspace so far. In this letter, we report on the acceleration of an enzymatic reaction in a microchip and preliminary kinetic studies of the reaction.