Sol-gel approach to in situ creation of high pH-resistant surface-bonded organic-inorganic hybrid zirconia coating for capillary microextraction (in-tube SPME)

A novel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel coating was developed for capillary microextraction (CME) (in-tube SPME). High degree of chemical inertness inherent in zirconia makes it very difficult to covalently bind a suitable organic ligand to its surface. In the present work, this problem was addressed from a sol-gel chemistry point of view. Principles of sol-gel chemistry were employed to chemically bind a hydroxy-terminated silicone polymer (polydimethyldiphenylsiloxane, PDMDPS) to a sol-gel zirconia network in the course of its evolution from a highly reactive alkoxide precursor undergoing controlled hydrolytic polycondensation reactions. A fused silica capillary was filled with a properly designed sol solution to allow for the sol-gel reactions to take place within the capillary for a predetermined period of time (typically 15-30 min). In the course of this process, a layer of the evolving hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel polymer got chemically anchored to the silanol groups on the capillary inner walls via condensation reaction. At the end of this in-capillary residence time, the unbonded part of the sol solution was expelled from the capillary under helium pressure, leaving behind a chemically bonded sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coating on the inner walls. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, and aldehydes were efficiently extracted and preconcentrated from dilute aqueous samples using sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coated capillaries followed by thermal desorption and GC analysis of the extracted solutes. The newly developed sol-gel hybrid zirconia coatings demonstrated excellent pH stability, and retained the extraction characteristics intact even after continuous rinsing with a 0.1 M NaOH solution for 24 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a sol-gel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic coating as an extraction medium in solid phase microextraction (SPME).     

Reaction dynamics and statistical theory for the growth of hydrogen bonding clusters

The similarities between the formation of hydrogen bonds and polycondensation reactions are stated from the statistical viewpoint, and then taking the hydrogen bonding system of AaDd type as an example, the growing process of hydrogen bonding clusters is investigated in terms of the theory of reaction dynamics and statistical theory for polymeric reactions. The two methods lead to the same conclusions, stating that the statistical theory for polymerization is applicable to the hydrogen bonding systems. Based on this consideration, the explicit relationship between the conversions of proton-donors and proton-acceptors and the Gibbs free energy of the system under study is given. Furthermore, the sol-gel phase transition is predicted to take place in some hydrogen bonding systems, and the corresponding generalized scaling laws describing this kind of phase transition are obtained.     

Three-phase microemulsion/sol-gel system for aqueous catalysis with hydrophobic chemicals

A facile three-phase transport process is described that allows to carry out catalytic reactions in water, whereby all components are hydrophobic. According to this process a hydrophobic substrate is microemulsified in water and subjected to an organometallic catalyst, which is entrapped within a partially hydrophobized sol-gel matrix. The surfactant molecules, which carry the hydrophobic substrate, adsorb/desorb reversibly on the surface of the sol-gel matrix breaking the micellar structure, spilling their substrate load into the porous medium that contains the catalyst. A catalytic reaction then takes place within the ceramic material to form the desired products that are extracted by the desorbing surfactant, carrying the emulsified product back into the solution. The method is general and versatile and has been demonstrated with the catalytic hydrogenations of alkenes, alkynes, aromatic C=C bonds, and nitro and cyano groups.     

光电化学反应的催化

本文主要按照催化剂与半导体电极二者之间所形成的结的性质, 分析了催化剂对电极表面上进行的光电化学反应可能具有的效应。分析结果表明, 催化光电化学反应(光生少数载流子的反应)的前提是催化剂微粒与“半导体/溶液”界面之间有足够强的相互作用, 因而在光照下催化剂粒子中电子系统的费米能级能达到或趋近光生少数载流子的准费米能级。文中并采用带环的可换旋转园盘电极研究了Au、Ir等金属微粒对在n-TiO_2单晶电极上进行的Ce~(3+)—→Ce~(4+)等光电化学反应的催化机理, 证实了上述分析结果。     

A generalized kinetic model for heterogeneous gas-solid reactions

We present a generalized kinetic model for gas-solid heterogeneous reactions taking place at the interface between two phases. The model studies the reaction kinetics by taking into account the reactions at the interface, as well as the transport process within the product layer. The standard unreacted shrinking core model relies on the assumption of quasi-static diffusion that results in a steady-state concentration profile of gas reactant in the product layer. By relaxing this assumption and resolving the entire problem, general solutions can be obtained for reaction kinetics, including the reaction front velocity and the conversion (volume fraction of reacted solid). The unreacted shrinking core model is shown to be accurate and in agreement with the generalized model for slow reaction (or fast diffusion), low concentration of gas reactant, and small solid size. Otherwise, a generalized kinetic model should be used.     

Parts per quadrillion level ultra-trace determination of polar and nonpolar compounds via solvent-free capillary microextraction on surface-bonded sol-gel polytetrahydrofuran coating and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection

Sol-gel polytetrahydrofuran (poly-THF) coating was developed for high-sensitivity sample preconcentration by capillary microextraction (CME). Parts per quadrillion (ppq) level detection limits were achieved for both polar and nonpolar analytes through sample preconcentration on sol-gel poly-THF coated microextraction capillaries followed by gas chromatography (GC) analysis of the extracted compounds using a flame ionization detector (FID). The sol-gel coating was in situ created on the inner walls of a fused silica capillary using a sol solution containing poly-THF as an organic component, methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMOS) as a sol-gel precursor, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA, 5% water) as a sol-gel catalyst, and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) as a deactivating reagent. The sol solution was introduced into a hydrothermally-treated fused silica capillary and the sol-gel reactions were allowed to take place inside the capillary for 60 min. A wall-bonded coating was formed due to the condensation of silanol groups residing on the capillary inner surface with those on the sol-gel network fragments evolving in close vicinity of the capillary walls. Poly-THF is a medium polarity polymer, and was found to be effective in carrying out simultaneous extraction of both polar and nonpolar analytes. Efficient extraction of a wide range of trace analytes from aqueous samples was accomplished using sol-gel poly-THF coated fused silica capillaries for further analysis by GC. The test analytes included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aldehydes, ketones, chlorophenols, and alcohols. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a poly-THF based sol-gel material in analytical microextraction. Sol-gel poly-THF coated CME capillaries showed excellent solvent and thermal stability (>320 degrees C).     

Sol-Gel Prepared Glass for Refractive and Diffractive Micro-Optical Elements and Arrays

The fast sol-gel method enables facile preparation of siloxane-based glassy matrices, in which polymerization is completed within minutes and volume changes <5% take place upon curing. Single-face and two-face replication of micro-optical arrays have been obtained, as well as crack-free elements >10 mm thick. Minimizing shrinkage and enabling relaxation of the drying sol-gel are key factors in the elimination of cracking. These features and the resulting optical quality of the glass make this method technologically and economically attractive for replication-produced micro-lenses and micro-optical arrays.     

Diffusion Structural Analysis for characterization of ceramics and glasses from gels: I. Principle of the method and its use in the study of silica gels preparation

The Diffusion Structural Analysis (DSA) is described as a new tool for characterization of the processes taking place during preparation of ceramics and glasses from gels. Examples of the DSA application in the silica gels preparation from TEOS are demonstrated. The DSA results are compared with the results of optical transparency and pH measurements during sol-gel transition.     

Systematic procedure for reduction of kinetic mechanisms of complex chemical processes and its software implementation

Feasibility of multidimensional hydrodynamic modeling depends critically on the availability of accurate reduced kinetic mechanisms of physical and chemical processes taking place in the system. Such mechanisms should describe the processes under consideration within a specified error tolerance in the range of initial conditions of interest while keeping the number of species and reactions as small as possible. We have developed an advanced tool for reduction of detailed kinetic mechanisms with a minimal human effort. The tool includes 10 reduction and 2 analysis methods which are based on the results of zero-dimensional modeling. The methods can be combined and applied in sequence. The reduction tool has been implemented as a part the Chemical Workbench computational package and has been tested for a number of large kinetic mechanisms of gas-phase processes. Using this tool, we reduced the mechanism of tar gasification from 177 species and 879 reversible reactions to only 83 species and 278 reactions, while the mechanism of methane combustion initially involving 127 species and 1,206 reactions was reduced to 42 species and 173 reactions.     

Kinetics of photochromic reactions in condensed phases

A review of kinetic data reported for a few organic photochromic systems is given. The kinetics of processes taking place in solid matrices and in crystals was briefly discussed. The effect of solid matrices manifests itself in the kinetics being controlled by distributions rather than by discrete rate constants. The photochromic reactions often require a substantial free volume to occur, hence they seldom take place in crystals without a destruction of the crystal lattice. The activation energies of thermally driven reactions are in this case related rather to crystal parameters than to the reactions themselves.     

A review of methods for synthesis of nanostructured metals with emphasis on iron compounds

Synthesis of metal nanoparticles with specific properties is a newly established research area attracting a great deal of attention. Several methods have been put forward for synthesis of these materials, namely chemical vapor condensation, arc discharge, hydrogen plasma—metal reaction, and laser pyrolysis in the vapor phase, microemulsion, hydrothermal, sol-gel, sonochemical, and microbial processes taking place in the liquid phase, and ball milling carried out in the solid phase. The properties of metal nanoparticles depend largely on their synthesis procedures. In this paper the fundamentals, advantages, and disadvantages of each synthesis method are discussed.     

Simple Model for Calculating the Rate Constants of Plasma-Chemical Reactions in Low-Pressure DC Magnetron Discharges

A simple model which allows one to calculate the rate coefficients of plasma-chemical reactions in low-pressure DC magnetron discharges is presented. In this model, the electron cyclotron frequency is assumed to be much greater than any electron collision frequency. We also assume that plasma-chemical reactions take place in the near-cathode bright region where the magnetic field, the electric field, the electron density, and the electron energy are maximum. The collision probabilities have been calculated for an electron moving in crossed E × B fields by averaging the cross-sections of plasma-chemical reactions along its trajectory and over all its possible initial pitch angles. Based on this model we calculated the rate constants of the plasma-chemical reactions taking place in DC magnetron reactive sputtering in argon–oxygen gas mixtures.     

Chloromethane and dichloromethane decompositions inside nanotubes as models of reactions in confined space

A combination of ab initio MP2 and molecular mechanics UFF calculations have been employed to study chloromethane and dichloromethane decomposition reaction inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The results suggest that the impact of the nanotubes on the mechanism of the reaction depends on the diameter of the nanotube. Nanotubes with a large diameter affect the reaction in a negligible way. On the other hand, most of the reactions taking place inside small nanotubes are considerably altered. The presence of the CNT may affect the geometries of the reactants, the reaction energy barriers, as well as the energetic outcome of the reactions. All the reactions have been described by means of energetic, thermodynamic, and vibrational analyses, which allowed us to form general conclusions concerning the reaction taking place in a confined space.     

Molten bisphenol-A polycarbonate-poly(ethylene terephthalate) blends. I. Identification of the reactions

This paper is devoted to the study of the reactions taking place in molten bisphenol-A polycarbonate-poly(ethylene terephthalate) mixtures. The analysis of the reaction products by infrared, proton and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and by thermogravimetric analysis shows that the main reaction is an exchange reaction identical to that occurring in bisphenol-A polycarbonate-poly(butylene terephthalate) mixtures. However, some other reactions consecutive to this exchange reaction also take place, probably resulting from the instability of the ethylene carbonates produced by transesterification.     

Hydrophobic silica sol-gel films for biphasic electrodes and porotrodes

Hydrophobic sol-gel films from methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMOS) are deposited onto glass and tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. Uniform and microporous films of ca. 200 nm thickness are obtained and investigated by scanning electron microscopy and by electrochemical techniques. From cyclic voltammograms for the oxidation of ferrocenedimethanol in aqueous 0.1 M KNO3 apparent diffusion coefficients and free volume data for processes within the film are derived and it is demonstrated that the film morphology can be controlled by the deposition timing. Two novel types of biphasic electrodes for observing liquid/liquid ion transfer reactions are introduced: (i) an ITO electrode coated with a hydrophobic sol-gel film and (ii) a hydrophobic sol-gel film on glass sputter-coated with 20 nm porous gold (porotrode). For the t-butylferrocene redox system deposited in the form of an organic liquid, very low and morphology dependent current responses are observed on modified ITO electrodes. However, the porotrode system allows biphasic electrode reactions to be driven with high efficiency and with no significant morphology effect of the hydrophobic sol-gel film. This type of nanofilm-modified electrode system will be of interest for biphasic sensor developments.     

Interaction of nitrogen monoxide with alumina-iron oxide catalysts in chemisorption-regeneration regime

IR spectroscopy and thermodesorption have been used to study the surface reactions taking place in chemisorption of NO and NO +02 mixtures on alumina-iron oxide catalysts and palladized alumina-iron oxide catalysts, as well as the reactions that take place upon subsequent heating of these catalysts in helium or in the presence of hydrogen. The role of catalyst promotion by palladium in these reactions is examined critically.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 362–366, November-December, 1996.     

Combination of flow injection analysis and voltammetry

The flow injection analyzer for students, teaching and research (FIAstar) is used in conjunction with a new micropool mercury flow-through electrode, to explore the possibilities offered by using d.c. polarography, rapid scan and amperometric titrations on a dispersed sample zone in motion. The work outlines the principles of the use of a scanning detector for investigation of the concentration gradients and chemical reactions taking place during the dispersion of sample solution within a carrier stream. The data, which are collected in real time, are displayed in three-dimensional diagrams.     

Removal of Model Pollutants in Aqueous Solution by Gliding Arc Discharge. Part II: Modeling and Simulation Study

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - The aim of this work is the modeling of plasma-chemical reactions taking place between highly oxidizing gaseous species (·OH, ·NO and...     

Kinetics of diffusion-limited catalytically activated reactions: an extension of the Wilemski-Fixman approach

We study the kinetics of diffusion-limited catalytically activated A+B-->B reactions taking place in three-dimensional systems, in which an annihilation of diffusive A particles by diffusive traps B may happen only if the encounter of an A with any of the Bs happens within a special catalytic subvolumen: these subvolumens being immobile and uniformly distributed within the reaction bath. Suitably extending the classical approach of Wilemski and Fixman [J. Chem. Phys. 58, 4009 (1973)] to such three-molecular diffusion-limited reactions, we calculate analytically an effective reaction constant and show that it comprises several terms associated with the residence and joint residence times of Brownian paths in finite domains. The effective reaction constant exhibits a nontrivial dependence on the reaction radii, the mean density of catalytic subvolumens, and particles' diffusion coefficients. Finally, we discuss the fluctuation-induced kinetic behavior in such systems.     

Do we fully understand what controls chemical selectivity?

Reaction rates and product selectivity of kinetically controlled reactions are not always sufficiently described by standard RRKM or TST theory. Reactions taking place on potential energy surfaces featuring a valley ridge inflection point belong to this class of reactions. Though various research groups could show that reaction path bifurcations are far from being an exception in organic reactions the underlying principles that govern product distributions of those bifurcating reaction pathways are yet not fully understood. This Perspective has the intention to provide an overview of how far our understanding and the development of the theoretical foundation have progressed.