PROMETHEUS: A Copper-Based Polymetallic Catalyst for Automotive Applications. Part II: Catalytic Efficiency an Endurance as Compared with Original Catalysts.

PROMETHEUS catalyst, a copper-based polymetallic nano-catalyst has been proven to be suitable for automotive emission control applications. This novel catalyst consists of copper, palladium and rhodium nanoparticles as active phases, impregnated on an inorganic oxide substrate, CeO2/ZrO2 (75%, 25%). The aim of PROMETHEUS catalyst's development is the substitution of a significant amount (85%) of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) with copper nanoparticles while, at the same time, presenting high catalytic efficiency with respect to the commercial catalysts. In this work, an extensive investigation of the catalytic activity of full scale PROMETHEUS fresh and aged catalyst deposited on ceramic cordierites is presented and discussed. The catalytic activity was tested on an Synthetic Gas Bench (SGB) towards the oxidation of CO and CH4 and the reduction of NO. The loading of the washcoat was 2 wt% (metal content) on Cu, Pd, Rh with the corresponding metal ratio at 21:7:1. The concentration of the full-scale monolithic catalysts to be 0.032% total PGM loading for meeting Euro III standard and 0.089% for meeting Euro IV to Euro VIb standards. The catalytic activity of all catalysts was tested both in rich-burn (λ = 0.99) and lean-burn conditions (λ = 1.03).

Inter- and intramolecular interactions in imidazolium protic ionic liquids.

The interactions of alkyl substituted imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanolsulfonyl)imide protic ionic liquids (PILs) HCnImNTf2 (n = 0-12) were studied using vibrational spectroscopy (FT-IR/ATR and FT-Raman) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The effect of alkyl substituent length (n = 0-12) and temperature on the relative magnitude of the different interactions is elucidated. For short carbon alkyl chains (n < 3), the PIL structure is affected from intramolecular interaction caused from the induction effect (+I) due to the chain substituent of the imidazolium ring, while for PILs with n > 3 the van der Waals forces between the chains and π-π interaction between neighboring imidazolium rings become important. The tendency of reducing the melting point and increasing glass transition values with the lengthening of the alkyl chain was also noticed as a result the increasing contribution of the van der Waals forces to the overall interactions. Finally, we also show that the conformational isomerism of the anion (expressed by ΔHeq) is a good indicator of the relative magnitude of the interactions. When Coulombic interactions are predominant, the trans conformer is the most probable, while when other type of interactions (HB, vdW, etc.) become important the cis conformer is favored.

Controlled release of 5-fluorouracil from microporous zeolites.

Zeolite particles with different pore diameter and particle size were loaded with the model anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil. The loaded zeolites were characterized by means of SEM, XRD, DSC, XPS, N2 physisorption and FT-IR. Higher loading of 5-FU was observed for NaX-FAU than BEA. Release studies were carried out in HCl 0.1N. Release of 5-FU from NaX-FAU showed exponential-type behaviour with the drug fully released within 10 min. In the case of BEA, the kinetics of 5-FU shows a multi-step profile with prolonged release over time. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that diffusion of the drug molecule through the BEA framework is lower than for NaX-FAU due to increased van der Waals interaction between the drug and the framework. The effect of zeolitic particles on the viability of Caco-2 monolayers showed that the NaX-FAU particles cause a reduction of cell viability in a more pronounced way compared with the BEA particles. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: This article describes zeolite-based nanoparticles in generating time-controlled release of 5-FU from zeolite preparations for anti-cancer therapy.