Prediction of vapour-liquid equilibria for systems containing longer-chain alcohols and alkanes by various group-contribution methods

Comparisons are made of predicted excess free enthalpies provided by the parameters available for the ASOG model of Derr and Deal, the UNIFAC model of Fredenslund et al., and the CRG (chemical-reticular group-contribution) method of Neau and Péneloux. These methods are applied to predict vapour-liquid equilibria for alcohol-alkane systems having carbon numbers up to 16. Overall, the accuracy of prediction increases in the order UNIFAC, ASOG, CRG.     

Increasing the solubility characteristics of fenofibrate with cyclodextrin

The incidence of genetic lipoprotein disorders, or hyperlipoproteinaemia, is currently increasing. Examinations were carried out on the hyperlipoproteinaemic drug fenofibrate and various cyclodextrin derivatives were applied to increase the solubility of this drug. Numerous products with several compositions (drug: CD mole ratio=2:1, 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3) were studied and three preparation methods (powder mixing, kneading and precipitation) were used. In vitro drug liberation and membrane diffusion examinations revealed compositions suitable for the preparation of a capsule dosage form (1:2 and 1:3 physical mixtures).Dedicated to Dr. Béla Selmeczi, university professor, with the best wishes for his 65th birthday.     

Small molecule activation at uranium coordination complexes: control of reactivity via molecular architecture

Electron-rich uranium coordination complexes display a pronounced reactivity toward small molecules. In this Feature article, the exciting chemistry of trivalent uranium ions coordinated to classic Werner-type ligand environments is reviewed. Three fundamentally important reactions of the [(((R)ArO)3tacn)U]-system are presented that result in alkane coordination, CO/CO2 activation, and nitrogen atom-transfer chemistry.     

Reactive uptake of N2O5 by aerosol particles containing mixtures of humic acid and ammonium sulfate

The kinetics of reactive uptake of N2O5 on submicron aerosol particles containing humic acid and ammonium sulfate has been investigated as a function of relative humidity (RH) and aerosol composition using a laminar flow reactor coupled with a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) to characterize the aerosol. For single-component humic acid aerosol the uptake coefficient, gamma, was found to increase from 2 to 9 x 10(-4) over the range 25-75% RH. These values are 1-2 orders of magnitude below those typically observed for single-component sulfate aerosols (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2003, 5, 3453-3463;(1) Atmos. Environ. 2000, 34, 2131-2159(2)). For the mixed aerosols, gamma was found to decrease with increasing humic acid mass fraction and increase with increasing RH. For aerosols containing only 6% humic acid by dry mass, a decrease in reactivity of more than a factor of 2 was observed compared with the case for single-component ammonium sulfate. The concentration of liquid water in the aerosol droplets was calculated using the aerosol inorganic model (for the ammonium sulfate component) and a new combined FTIR-DMA system (for the humic acid component). Analysis of the uptake coefficients using the water concentration data shows that the change in reactivity cannot be explained by the change in water content alone. We suggest that, due to its surfactant properties, the main effect of the humic acid is to reduce the mass accommodation coefficient for N2O5 at the aerosol particle surface. This has implications for the use of particle hygroscopicity data for predictions of the rate of N2O5 hydrolysis.