Structure−Energy Relationships in Unsaturated Esters of Carboxylic Acids. Thermochemical Measurements and ab Initio Calculations

Rapid Vapor-Collection Method for Vapor Pressure Measurements of Low-Volatility Compounds

Dynamic vapor microextraction (DVME) is a new method that enables rapid vapor pressure measurements on large molecules with state-of-the-art measurement uncertainty for vapor pressures near 1 Pa. Four key features of DVME that allow for the rapid collection of vapor samples under thermodynamic conditions are (1) the use of a miniature vapor-equilibration vessel (the "saturator") to minimize the temperature gradients and internal volume, (2) the use of a capillary vapor trap to minimize the internal volume, (3) the use of helium carrier gas to minimize nonideal mixture behavior, and (4) the direct measurement of pressure inside the saturator to accurately account for overpressure caused by viscous flow. The performance of DVME was validated with vapor pressure measurements of n-eicosane (C₂₀H₄₂) at temperatures from 344 to 374 K. A thorough uncertainty analysis indicated a relative standard uncertainty of 2.03-2.82% for measurements in this temperature range. The measurements were compared to a reference correlation for the vapor pressures of n-alkanes; the deviation of the measurements from the correlation was ≤2.85%. The enthalpy of vaporization of n-eicosane at 359.0 K was calculated to be Δ_vapH = 91.27 ± 0.28 kJ/mol compared to Δ_vapH(corr) = 91.44 kJ/mol for the reference correlation. Total measurement periods as short as 15 min (3 min of thermal equilibration plus 12 min of carrier gas flow) were shown to be sufficient for high-quality vapor pressure measurements at 364 K.

Combined online spectroscopic, calorimetric, and chemometric analysis: reaction enthalpy determinations in single and parallel reactions

Calorimetry and signal processing: Vibrational spectroscopies, heat-flow microcalorimetry, and multivariate analysis are combined to decouple the reaction enthalpies of parallel reactions [picture: see text]. This methodology allows the evaluation of reaction enthalpy from complex systems without recourse to conventional kinetic modeling. Simultaneous in situ/online spectroscopy and heat-flow measurements as well as multivariate analyses are performed, apparently for the first time, to determine heats of reaction for single and parallel reactions. Two different vibrational spectroscopy techniques, namely Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, are used in conjunction with flow-through TAM III microcalorimetry. With respect to the spectroscopic analysis, the reaction spectra are first analyzed to determine the pure-component spectra and the corresponding concentrations without recourse to external calibration. With respect to the calorimetric analysis, a soft modeling approach is employed to determine the heats of reaction without recourse to any conventional kinetic models. This combined approach is implemented to determine the extents of reaction as well as the corresponding heats of reaction at 298.15 K and 0.1 MPa for a) the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride (single reaction) and b) the hydrolysis of methyl paraben and ethyl paraben in alkaline solution (both single and parallel reactions). In the latter case, the heat-flow contributions from the two simultaneous reactions are successfully decoupled. Taken together, these results demonstrate proof of concept for the present approach. The newly developed methodology appears to be quite general and particularly useful for investigating complex reaction systems. This is particularly true for multiple simultaneous reactions and reactions where the detailed kinetic expressions are not available, or cannot be easily determined. The use of extents of reaction is also very helpful where there is high variability in reaction rates, that is, due to the presence of impurities, changes in catalyst activity, or concentrations, temperature, and pH.

A computational study of lithium ketone enolate aggregation in the gas phase and in THF solution

The aggregation state of several lithium enolates were calculated in the gas phase and in THF solution by the B3LYP DFT and MP2 methods. The gas phase free energies of aggregate formation were underestimated by the DFT calculations, compared to those obtained by the G3MP2 method, although DFT did correctly predict the hexamer to be the major gas phase species. The DFT calculations correctly predicted the tetramer to be the major species in THF, while MP2 underestimated the stability of the tetramer relative to the dimer.