Micro/milliflow processing with selective catalyst microwave heating in the Cu-catalyzed Ullmann etherification reaction: a µ(2)-process.

A µ(2)-process in the Ullmann-type C-O coupling of potassium phenolate and 4-chloropyridine was successfully performed in a combined microwave (MW) and microflow process. Selective MW absorption in a micro-fixed-bed reactor (µ-FBR) by using a supported Cu nanocatalyst resulted in an increased activity compared to an oil-bath heated process. Yields of up to 80 % were attained by using a multisegmented µ-FBR without significant catalyst deactivation. The µ-FBR was packed with beads coated with Cu/TiO(2) and CuZn/TiO(2) catalysts. Temperature measurements along axial positions of the reactor were performed by using a fiber-optic probe in the catalyst bed. The simultaneous application of MW power and temperature sensors resulted in an isothermal reactor at 20 W. Initially, only solvent was used to adjust the MW field density in the cavity and optimize the power utility. Subsequently, the reaction mixture was added to ensure the maximum MW power transfer by adjusting the waveguide stub tuners to steady-state operations as a result of the changed reaction mixture composition and, therefore, the dielectric properties. Finally, the beneficial influence of the Cu/TiO(2)- and CuZn/TiO(2)-coated glass beads (200 µm) on the MW absorption as a result of the additional absorbing effect of the metallic Cu nanoparticles was optimized in a fine-tuning step. For the catalyst synthesis, various sol-gel, deposition, and impregnation methods provided Cu catalyst loadings of around 1 wt %. The addition of Zn to the Cu nanocatalyst revealed an increased catalyst activity owing to the presence of stable Cu(0). Multilaminar mixing was necessary because of the large difference in fluid viscosities. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first extended experimental survey of the decisive parameters to combine microprocess and single-mode MW technology following the concepts of "novel process windows" for organic syntheses.

Helical self-assembly and co-assembly of fluorinated, preorganized discotics.

The synthesis and self-assembly properties of a fluorinated C(3)-symmetrical 3,3'-bis(acylamino)-2,2'-bipyridine discotic (1) in the mesophase and in solution are described. First, 3,4,5-tris-(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H-perfluoroundecyl-1-oxy)benzoyl chloride was coupled to mono-t-BOC protected 2,2'-bipyridine-3,3'-diamine to afford after deprotection the corresponding fluorinated aromatic amine on a multigram scale. Then, three-fold reaction of this amine with trimesyl chloride yielded the target C(3)-symmetrical fluorinated disc. The latter displayed columnar liquid crystallinity over a temperature range of more than 350 K in which helical rectangular and hexagonal columnar mesophases were detected by X-ray diffraction measurements. (1)H-NMR spectroscopy showed a preorganized structure due to strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the amide N-H's and bipyridine nitrogen atoms, even in the presence of a large excess of hexafluoroisopropanol. This preorganized structure allows the formation of helical self-assemblies in fluorinated solvents, as was established using UV-Vis spectroscopy. The fluorinated disc and two chiral hydrocarbon analogues (a C(3)-symmetrical and a desymmetrized disc) were mixed in a 1:10 v:v mixture of methoxynonafluorobutane (MNFB) and 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane (Freon 113). Importantly, the C(3)-symmetrical hydrocarbon disc dissolves only in the presence of fluorinated disc in the latter solvent mixture, proving a mutual interaction. CD spectroscopy performed on these mixtures points to a preference for alternating self-assemblies of fluorinated and chiral hydrocarbon discotics.

New Cu-based catalysts supported on TiO2 films for Ullmann S(N)Ar-type C-O coupling reactions.

New routes for the preparation of highly active TiO(2)-supported Cu and CuZn catalysts have been developed for C-O coupling reactions. Slurries of a titania precursor were dip-coated onto glass beads to obtain either structured mesoporous or non-porous titania thin films. The Cu and CuZn nanoparticles, synthesized using a reduction by solvent method, were deposited onto calcined films to obtain a Cu loading of 2 wt%. The catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy, temperature-programmed oxidation/reduction (TPO/TPR) techniques, (63)Cu nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM-EDX) and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS). The activity and stability of the catalysts obtained have been studied in the C-O Ullmann coupling of 4-chloropyridine and potassium phenolate. The titania-supported nanoparticles retained catalyst activity for up to 12 h. However, catalyst deactivation was observed for longer operation times due to oxidation of the Cu nanoparticles. The oxidation rate could be significantly reduced over the CuZn/TiO(2) catalytic films due to the presence of Zn. The 4-phenoxypyridine yield was 64% on the Cu/nonporous TiO(2) at 120 °C. The highest product yield of 84% was obtained on the Cu/mesoporous TiO(2) at 140 °C, corresponding to an initial reaction rate of 104 mmol g(cat) (-1) s(-1). The activation energy on the Cu/mesoporous TiO(2) catalyst was found to be (144±5) kJ mol(-1), which is close to the value obtained for the reaction over unsupported CuZn nanoparticles (123±3 kJ mol(-1)) and almost twice the value observed over the catalysts deposited onto the non-porous TiO(2) support (75±2 kJ mol(-1)).

Effect of the load size on the efficiency of microwave heating under stop flow and continuous flow conditions.

A novel heating efficiency analysis of the microwave heated stop-flow (i.e. stagnant liquid) and continuous-flow reactors has been presented. The thermal losses to the surrounding air by natural convection have been taken into account for heating efficiency calculation of the microwave heating process. The effect of the load diameter in the range of 4-29 mm on the heating efficiency of ethylene glycol was studied in a single mode microwave cavity under continuous flow and stop-flow conditions. The variation of the microwave absorbing properties of the load with temperature was estimated. Under stop-flow conditions, the heating efficiency depends on the load diameter. The highest heating efficiency has been observed at the load diameter close to the half wavelength of the electromagnetic field in the corresponding medium. Under continuous-flow conditions, the heating efficiency increased linearly. However, microwave leakage above the propagation diameter restricted further experimentation at higher load diameters. Contrary to the stop-flow conditions, the load temperature did not raise monotonously from the inlet to outlet under continuous-flow conditions. This was due to the combined effect of lagging convective heat fluxes in comparison to volumetric heating. This severely disturbs the uniformity of the electromagnetic field in the axial direction and creates areas of high and low field intensity along the load Length decreasing the heating efficiency as compared to stop-flow conditions.

Nanoparticulate PdZn--pathways towards the synthetic control of nanosurface properties.

This paper reports an in-depth structural investigation of PdZn nanoparticulates prepared over an entire compositional range. By using a combination of HRTEM, ICP-OES, EDX and XPS alongside PXRD, we are able to show how a liquid-type reduction process can be exploited to target different PdZn bimetallic structures while maintaining reproducibly narrow particle size distributions and average particle diameters of approximately 3 nm. Samples have been further analyzed by quantitative phase analysis of the Rietveld refined diffraction data, providing indications as to how variations in specific surface compositions are obtained when Zn is used as the alloying metal. The influence of nanolattice strain is investigated by geometric analysis of TEM data. Results suggest, in conjunction with previously published catalytic data, how different compositions of this specific bimetallic system may be exploited in catalytic processes to control substrate/product affinity. We thus demonstrate a new and simplified approach to PdZn bimetallics, which may offer novel perspectives for applications in industrial catalysis.

Nanoparticulate copper--routes towards oxidative stability.

A modified polyol-based reduction method in ethylene glycol that incorporates poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP, M(av) = 10,000; 40,000; 55,000) as polymeric anti-agglomerant alongside a reducing additive (N(2)H(4) x H(2)O, NaBH(4), NaH(2)PO(2) x H(2)O) has been employed to investigate the influence of synthetic parameters on the purity, morphology and stability of an array of polymer-coated copper nanoparticles. While data point to ethylene glycol being capable of acting as a reductant in this system, the use of NaH(2)PO(2) x H(2)O as co-reductant in tandem with the presence of PVP (M(av) 40,000) has rendered nanoparticles with a mean size distribution of 9.6 +/- 1.0 nm that exhibit stability towards oxidation for several months. These data allow us to probe fundamentally how oxidatively stable nano-copper might be achieved.