Solubility of sulphur dioxide in polar organic solvents

The solubility of sulphur dioxide in N,N-dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulphoxide, N,N-dimethyl acetamide, sulpholane, tributyl phosphate and diethanolamine has been determined. A solubility model is proposed and the solubilities calculated by the model show good agreement with experimental data.     

Factors controlling sulfur dioxide solubilities in organic solvents

Sulfur dioxide solubility in a liquid phase was studied as affected by the donor-acceptor interactions of the system’s components, these interactions being dependent on the basicity of organic solvents. Other factors of influence were also studied in order for fitting solubility data by means of linear multiparameter equations, primarily, the nonspecific solvation ability of solvents and their cohesion energy, which counteracts the incorporation of gas molecules into the liquid phase.     

Oxidation of alcohols by chlorine dioxide in organic solvents

The kinetics of oxidation of a series of alcohols (propan-2-ol, 2-methylpropan-1-ol, butan-1-ol, butan-2-ol, 3-methylpentan-1-ol, heptan-4-ol, decan-2-ol, cyclohexanol, borneol) by chlorine dioxide in organic solvents was studied using spectrophotometry. The reaction is described by the second-order rate equation w = k[ROH][ClO₂]. The rate constants were measured in the range of 10–60 °C, and the activation parameters of the processes were calculated. The products were identified, and the yields were determined.     

Prediction of infinite dilution activity coefficients of sulfur dioxide in organic solvents

Infinite dilution activity coefficients of sulfur dioxide in various organic solvents were correlated with two basicity scales: the solvent Gutmann donor number and Arnett heat of hydrogen bonding. Linear correlations were observed for both basicity scales, and the accuracy of activity coefficient prediction is estimated to be ±20 to 25%. Infinite dilution activity coefficients of sulfur dioxide in over 80 organic solvents were estimated from the correlations.     

Inorganic polarography in organic solvents

A review of inorganic polarography in organic solvents is presented.     

Asphaltene aggregation in organic solvents

Asphaltenic solids formed in the Rangely field in the course of a carbon dioxide flood and heptane insolubles in the oil from the same field were used in this study. Four different solvents were used to dissolve the asphaltenes. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to determine the onset of asphaltene precipitation by heptane titration. When the onset values were plotted versus asphaltene concentrations, distinct break points (called critical aggregation concentrations (CAC) in this paper) were observed. CACs for the field asphaltenes dissolved in toluene, trichloroethylene, tetrahydrofuran, and pyridine occurred at concentrations of 3.0, 3.7, 5.0, and 8.2 g/l, respectively. CACs are observed at similar concentrations as critical micelle concentrations (CMC) for the asphaltenes in the solvents employed and can be interpreted to be the points at which rates of asphaltene aggregations change. CMC values of asphaltenes determined from surface tension measurements (in pyridine and TCE) were slightly higher than the CAC values measured by NIR onset measurements. The CAC for heptane-insoluble asphaltenes in toluene was 3.1 g/l. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and elemental compositions of the two asphaltenes showed that the H/C ratio of the heptane-insoluble asphaltenes was higher and molecular weight (measured by vapor pressure osmometry) was lower.     

Positronium interactions in organic solvents

In the present work, the chemistry of the positronium (Ps) species has been investigated in pure benzene, pyridine and their mixtures with pyridine concentrations at 4.12, 6.18 and 8.24 M, respectively, using the Doppler-broadened line-shape analysis technique. It is seen that the intensities of the para-(p-Ps) and ortho-Ps (o-Ps) in benzene and that of p-Ps in pyridine follow the Ore-model predictions while the intensity of o-Ps in pyridine is much lower than expected from this model. On the basis of these observations and of decrease in the o-Ps lifetime with increasing pyridine concentration in various organic solvents as reported in literature, it is concluded that pick-off is not the only quenching mechanism for Ps in organic solvents and pyridine is a quencher of Ps-species rather than an inhibitor. Calculations carried out considering a diffusion-controlled mechanism of Ps-quenching in pyridine via unstable (dissociative) complex/adduct formation and the bubble model show that the quenching rate is diffusion controlled and the pick-off rate is in accordance with the free-volume model. These conclusions were confirmed in the mixtures of benzene and pyridine.     

Lipase catalysis in organic solvents

The conditions for esterification and transesterification catalyzed by porcine pancreatic lipase in organic media were studied. It was found that the enzyme reaction was dependent on the following factors: the pH at which the enzyme powder was prepared from its solution, the polarity of organic media, the reaction temperature, the water content in reaction system, and the substrate structures. Effects of the above factors on enzyme activity were discussed.     

Ion exchange in organic solvents

Studies on the partitioning of plutonium from 30% TBP by ion-exchange absorption on macroporous cation exchanger Amberlyst-15 have been described. Detailed loading experiments indicate that the resin absorbs plutonium in preference to uranium from loaded organic phase at low organic phase acidities (around 0.2M). Absorption behaviour of some fission products on the resin in 30% TBP is also reported. Possibility of using this procedure as an alternate method for plutonium partitioning from IAP stream of Purex process has been discussed.     

Palladium-catalyzed Heck coupling reactions using different fluorinated phosphine ligands in compressed carbon dioxide and conventional organic solvents

Palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction of iodobenzene and styrene was investigated in compressed CO₂ using different fluorinated phosphine compounds as ligands at a temperature of 70 °C. The reaction mixture is a single phase at 12 MPa but biphasic at 8 MPa, a little higher than the critical pressure of pure CO₂ under the reaction conditions used. Although the solubility of fluorinated ligands is very high in dense CO₂, they have marginal improvements in Heck conversion in this medium compared with a non-fluorinated ligand of triphenylphosphine. The activity of palladium complexes strongly depends on the kind of phosphine compound used, in the order of bis(pentafluorophenyl)phenylphosphine (III)>triphenylphosphine (I), tris(pentafluorophenyl)phosphine (IV)>diphenyl(pentafluorophenyl)phosphine (II), tris(p-fluorophenyl)phosphine (V)>tris(p-trifluoromethyl phenyl)phosphine (VI), 1,2-bis[bis(pentafluorophenyl)phosphino]ethane (VII), for the homogeneous reaction at 12 MPa. This order of effectiveness of these ligands is different from those obtained in conventional organic solvents. Hexane, toluene, ethanol, and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) showed maximum conversions with the ligands VI, IV, V and VII, respectively. The conversion in CO₂ with the ligand III is comparable with those in polar solvents of ethanol and NMP, and larger than those in hexane and toluene in the presence of the best ligands. The dense CO₂ may affect the specific activity of palladium complex catalysts and/or the reactivity of reacting species. Small quantities of fluorinated products were observed to form at high pressure of CO₂ and this is direct evidence of P–C bond cleavage during Heck reaction in dense CO₂. The activity of palladium complexes with those ligands is higher in more polar solvent.     

Graphene oxide dispersions in organic solvents

The dispersion behavior of graphene oxide in different organic solvents has been investigated. As-prepared graphite oxide could be dispersed in N, N-dimethylformamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, tetrahydrofuran, and ethylene glycol. In all of these solvents, full exfoliation of the graphite oxide material into individual, single-layer graphene oxide sheets was achieved by sonication. The graphene oxide dispersions exhibited long-term stability and were made of sheets between a few hundred nanometers and a few micrometers large, similar to the case of graphene oxide dispersions in water. These results should facilitate the manipulation and processing of graphene-based materials for different applications.     

Supercritical fluid solvents in organic chemistry

The solubility of complex organic molecules in supercritical solvents is well-established. Under isothermal conditions, slightly above the critical temperature, this phenomenon, as well as most other physical properties of the solvent, exhibits a substantial pressure dependence. This behavior makes supercritical solvents attractive as media for organic reactions, both from a synthetic and a physical organic perspective.

An apparatus has been constructed and techniques have been developed to investigate the effects of supercritical solvent interactions on organic reaction rates and equilibria. The construction and operation of a supercritical reactor is described. Finally the reactor is used to investigate the photoisomerization of trans-stilbene in supercritical carbon dioxide.     

Absorption and emission behaviour of trans-p-coumaric acid in aqueous solutions and some organic solvents

The absorption and fluorescence behaviour of trans-p-coumaric acid (trans-4-hydroxycinnamic acid) is investigated in buffered aqueous solution over a wide range from pH 1 to pH 12, in un-buffered water, and in some organic solvents. Absorption cross-section spectra, fluorescence quantum distributions, fluorescence quantum yields, and degrees of fluorescence polarisation are measured. p-Coumaric acid exists in different ionic forms in aqueous solution depending on the pH. There is an equilibrium between the neutral form (p-CAH₂) and the single anionic form (p-CAH⁻) at low pH (pK_na ≈ 4.9), and between the single anionic and the double anionic form (p-CA²⁻) at high pH (pK_aa ≈ 9.35). In the organic solvents studied trans-p-coumaric acid is dissolved in its neutral form. The fluorescence quantum yield of trans-p-coumaric acid in aqueous solution is ?_F ≈ 1.4 × 10⁻⁴ for the neutral and the single anionic form, while it is ?_F ≈ 1.3 × 10⁻³ for the double anionic form. For trans-p-coumaric acid in organic solvents fluorescence quantum yields in the range from 4.8 × 10⁻⁵ (acetonitrile) to 1.5 × 10⁻⁴ (glycerol) were measured. The fluorescence spectra are 7700–10,000 cm⁻¹ Stokes shifted in aqueous solution, and 5400–8200 cm⁻¹ Stokes shifted in the studied organic solvents. Decay paths responsible for the low fluorescence quantum yields are discussed (photo-isomerisation and internal conversion for p-CA²⁻, solvent-assisted intra-molecular charge-transfer or ππ^∗ to nπ^∗ transfer and internal conversion for p-CAH₂ and p-CAH⁻). The solvent dependence of the first ππ^∗ electronic transition frequency and of the fluorescence Stokes shift of p-CAH₂ is discussed in terms of polar solute–solvent interaction effects. Thereby the ground-state and excite-state molecular dipole moments are extracted.     

Acid-base interaction of tetraazaporphin in organic solvents

The state of free tetraazaporphin in proton-donor media was studied.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 12, pp. 1677–1681, December, 1986.     

Microtitrations of organic bases in nonaqueous solvents

Summary The use of acetic acid as a solvent for the microtitration of organic bases has been investigated. Bases, whose pK_b, in water are 12 or below have been found titrable both visually and potentiometrically.Acetic anhydride permits extending the scope to bases whose pK_b in water are no greater than about 13.5. Visual and potentiometric titrations have been performed at room temperature and at 0° C.The possibilities of using formic acid and propionic acid have been investigated. Whereas both these solvents exert a greater levelling effect on bases than acetic acid or acetic anhydride, they also have some undesirable features. Formic acid is not stable and commercial propionic acid cannot be obtained with a sufficiently low water content to permit titrations without the addition of acetic anhydride.

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Zusammenfassung Die Eignung der Essigsäure als Lösungsmittel für die Mikrotitration organischer Basen wurde untersucht. Basen, deren pK_b in wäßriger Lösung unter 12 ist, konnten potentiometrisch sowohl, als auch mit Farbindikatoren titriert werden.Mit Essigsäureanhydrid als Lösungsmittel kann der Titrationsbereich erweitert werden, so daß noch Basen mit pK_b 13,5 eingeschlossen sind. Potentiometrische Titrationen und Titrationen mit Farbindikatoren wurden bei Zimmertemperatur und bei 0° C ausgeführt.Auch die Eignung von Ameisensäure und Propionsäure als Lösungsmittel wurde untersucht. Beide erhöhen die Titrierbarkeit schwacher Basen mehr als Essigsäure und Essigsäureanhydrid, besitzen aber auch unerwünschte Eigenschaften. Ameisensäure zersetzt sich langsam und die Propionsäure des Handels enthält zu viel Wasser, um für Titrationen ohne Zusatz von Essigsäureanhydrid geeignet zu sein.

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Résumé L'emploi de l'acide acétique comme solvant pour le microtitrage des bases organiques a été l'objet des recherches des auteurs. Les bases dont les pK_b dans l'eau sont égaux ou inférieurs à 12 peuvent être titrées soit visuellement soit potentiométriquement. L'anhydride acétique permet d'étendre le domaine de titrage à des bases dont les pK_b dans l'eau ne sont pas supérieurs à environ 13,5. Il a été possible d'effectuer des titrages visuels et potentiométriques à la température ambiante ainsi qu'à 0° C. Les possibilités d'emploi de l'acide formique et de l'acide propionique ont été également étudiées. Non seulement ces deux solvants exercent sur les bases un effet de nivellement plus élevé que l'acide acétique ou l'anhydride acétique, mais ils présentent en outre certaines caractéristiques défavorables. L'acide formique n'est pas stable tandis qu'il n'est pas possible d'obtenir l'acide propionique avec une teneur en eau suffisamment basse pour permettre des titrages sans addition d'anhydride acétique.

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This paper is abstracted from the Master's Thesis ofM. Gutterson, June, 1956.     

Optimization of hydrolase efficiency in organic solvents

The application of hydrolases in organic solvents for synthetic purposes is a procedure routinely adopted in organic chemistry, especially for the preparation of chiral building blocks. Numerous studies have shed light on several aspects of the mechanism of hydrolase action in low-water environments. Procedures suitable to improve the catalytic efficiency of enzymes and productivity of the synthetic processes have been reported. These fundamental and applied investigations have made hydrolase-catalyzed reactions in organic solvents of industrial interest. In this article we describe and discuss various approaches adopted to optimize the performance of hydrolases in organic media, with special emphasis on the formulation of the biocatalysts which, under proper conditions, can display an activity equal to that displayed in aqueous buffers.