Kinetics of a Phase-Transfer Catalysis Reaction in Supercritical Fluid Carbon Dioxide

Kinetics of Grape Seed Oil Epoxidation in Supercritical CO2

The epoxidation of grape seed oil in supercritical CO2, to the best of our knowledge, has been only superficially described in the literature, apart from a short communication and our own previous published work on the topic. In this work, a thorough study of the performance of the supercritical epoxidation of grape seed oil is performed in a wide range of conditions, and the kinetic parameters of the supercritical epoxidation of vegetable oils are reported for the first time in the literature. The experimental work has covered a 40–60 °C temperature range at 150 bar, sampling during a period of 48 h. The nature and extent of the side reactions and secondary products obtained have been evaluated, being hydrolysis products and their oligomerization derivatives the major by-products. Reaction rate constants (10−2 h−1 order) and activation energy parameters were finally calculated from the experimental conversion and epoxy yield data to establish the effect of temperature on the kinetics of the process.

A theoretical study of the limits of the acidity of carbon acids in phase transfer catalysis in water and in liquid ammonia

The acidities of a large number of carbon acids have been theoretically calculated for the gas-phase and for DMSO solution. The gas-phase values, both ΔH and ΔG, are very well correlated with the available experimental data. From the calculated ΔG values in DMSO and the pKas in the same solvent, a homogeneous set of pK a (DMSO) values was devised that was used to generate pK a (water). These last pK as were used to establish the limits of the acidity of carbon acids for reactions under PTC conditions both alkylations and H/D exchange. A step further led to the pK as in liquid ammonia and from them to the virtual use of PTC using liquid ammonia instead of water.

Ethoxylation of p-chloronitrobenzene using phase-transfer catalysts by ultrasound irradiation: a kinetic study

Ethoxy-4-nitrobenzene was synthesized by the reaction of 4-chloronitrobenzene with potassium ethoxide in a homogeneous system using benzyltriethylammonium chloride (QCl) as a phase-transfer catalyst at 50 degrees C under ultrasound irradiation conditions. The use of phase-transfer catalysts and ultrasound has been compared and demonstrated in this nucleophilic substitution reactions. The kinetics of the reaction depends on the effect of amount of catalyst, quaternary ammonium salts, agitation speed, amount of potassium hydroxide, amount of ethanol, temperature and the frequency of the ultrasound waves on the conversion of the reaction.

Piperylene sulfone: a labile and recyclable DMSO substitute

The properties and uses of piperylene sulfone as a new, recyclable dipolar, aprotic solvent for conducting organic reactions are presented.

Probing the cybotactic region in gas-expanded liquids (GXLs)

Gas-expanded liquids (GXLs) are a new and benign class of liquid solvents, which may offer many advantages for separations, reactions, and advanced materials. GXLs are intermediate in properties between normal liquids and supercritical fluids, both in solvating power and in transport properties. Other advantages include benign nature, low operating pressures, and highly tunable properties by simple pressure variations. The chemical community has only just begun to exploit the advantages of these GXLs for industrial applications. This Account focuses on the synergism of experimental techniques with theoretical modeling resulting in a powerful combination for exploring chemical structure and transport in the cybotactic region of GXLs (at the nanometer lengthscale).

Nucleophilic displacements in supercritical carbon dioxide under phase-transfer catalysis conditions. 2. Effect of pressure and kinetics

The nucleophilic displacement on n-octylmesylate (n-C(8)H(17)OSO(2)CH(3), 1) with four different anions (I(-), Br(-), N(3)(-), and SCN(-)) is investigated under liquid-supercritical phase-transfer catalysis (LSc-PTC) conditions, i.e. in a biphase system of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) and water, in the presence of both silica supported and conventional onium salts. The CO(2) pressure greatly affects the concentration of 1 in the sc-phase and plays a major role on its conversion. For example, at 50 degrees C and with a supported PT-catalyst, the conversion of 1 into n-octyl iodide drops by a factor of 5 as the CO(2) pressure is increased from 80 to 150 bar, while in the same pressure range, the solubility of n-octylmesylate in scCO(2) shows a 6-fold increase, indicating that the reagent is desorbed from the catalyst. Under LSc-PTC conditions, pseudo-first-order kinetic rate constants, evaluated for the investigated reactions, show that the performance of scCO(2) as a PTC solvent and the relative nucleophilicity order of the anions (N(3)(-) > I(-) > or = Br(-) > SCN(-)) are comparable to those of toluene and n-heptane. The behavior of conventional phosphonium salts in the scCO(2)/H(2)O biphase system suggests that the reaction may take place either within small droplets of PT-catalyst containing water or in a separate third liquid phase of the PT-catalyst itself.