Fig. 4

Flow diagram showing the periodic droplet experiments. (i) Sampling from reaction mixtures of 10 mM 1 and 2 in chloroform. (ii) 4.0 µl droplets of this chloroform solution of reactants 1 and 2, amphiphilic product 3, and the hydrophobic dye are placed into the alkaline aqueous phase (dilute aqueous NaOH, pH 12.2, 2.0 ml) and observed from below. (iii) Video of the resulting droplets is captured for 120 s. (iv) The aqueous phase is aspirated from the dish, and it is cleaned with distilled water and acetone before the next experiment. This was repeated every 10 min for 30 cycles