Heat Flow Titration Calorimetry

The principles of titration calorimetry will now be introduced using isoperibol continuous titration calorimetry as an example. These principles, with slight modifications, can be adapted to the incremental method and to techniques based on other types of calorimeters, such as heat flow isothermal titration calorimetry. This method, which has gained increasing importance, is covered in section 11.2. 

As mentioned above, titration methods have also been adapted to calorimeters whose working principle relies on the detection of a heat flow to or from the calorimetric vessel, as a result of the phenomenon under study [195-196,206], Heat flow calorimetry was discussed in chapter 9, where two general modes of operation were presented. In some instruments, the heat flow rate between the calorimetric vessel and a heat sink is measured by use of thermopiles. Others, such as the calorimeter in figure 11.1, are based on a power compensation mechanism that enables operation under isothermal conditions. 

Another area where titration calorimetry has found intensive application, and where the importance of heat flow versus isoperibol calorimetry has been growing, is the energetics of metal-ligand complexation. Morss, Nash, and Ensor [225], for example, used potenciometric titrations and heat flow isothermal titration calorimetry to study the complexation of UO "1" and trivalent lanthanide cations by tetrahydrofuran-2,3,4,5-tetracarboxylic acid (THFTCA), in aqueous solution. Their general goal was to investigate the potential application of THFTCA for actinide and lanthanide separation, and nuclear fuels processing. The obtained results (table 11.1) indicated that the 1 1 complexes formed in the reaction (M = La, Nd, Eu, Dy, andTm)... 

Titration calorimetry is a method in which one reactant inside a calorimetric vessel is titrated with another delivered from a burette at a controlled rate. This technique has been adapted to a variety of calorimeters, notably of the isoperibol and heat flow types [194-198]. The output of a titration calorimetric experiment is usually a plot of the temperature change or the heat flow associated with the reaction or physical interaction under study as a function of time or the amount of titrant added. 

The historical development of titration calorimetry has been addressed by Grime [197]. The technique is credited to have been born in 1913, when Bell and Cowell used an apparatus consisting of a 200 cm3 Dewar vessel, a platinum stirrer, a thermometer graduated to tenths of degrees, and a volumetric burette to determine the end point of the titration of citric acid with ammonia lfom a plot of the observed temperature change against the volume of ammonia added [208]. The capabilities of titration calorimetry have enormously evolved since then, and the accuracy limits of modern titration calorimeters are comparable to those obtained in conventional isoperibol (chapter 8) or heat-flow instruments (chapter 9) [195,198],... 

Figure 11.5 Typical curve for a continuous titration calorimetry study of an exothermic reaction, using the calorimeter of Figure 11.1 in the heat flow isothermal mode of measurement./ is the frequency of the constant energy pulses supplied to the heater C in Figure 11.1 b. Adapted from [196,197],...

Fig. 10. Isothermal titration calorimetry of the binding of Sac7d to DNA at 80° showing the heat flow (A) following a series of 10 n,l injections of Sac7d (0.55 mAf) into poly(dG-dC) poly(dG-dC) (0.34 mM) in 10 mAf KH2PO4 (pH 6.8) and 25 xnM KCl. The baseline has been flattened by subtraction of a polynomial fit of the raw data. A fit of the integrated heats per mole of injected protein (B) with the McGhee-von Hippel model is shown with the solid curve through the data (A( = 1.04 x lO W", site size = 4.2 base pairs, A/f° = —52.5 kcal/mol). The first two points are inaccurate because of diffusion from the injection needle during equilibration and were not included in the fit.

Chapter 9, by Kiraly (Hungary), attempts to clarify the adsorption of surfactants at solid/solution interfaces by calorimetric methods. The author addresses questions related to the composition and structure of the adsorption layer, the mechanism of the adsorption, the kinetics, the thermodynamics driving forces, the nature of the solid surface and of the surfactant (ionic, nonionic, HLB, CMC), experimental conditions, etc. He describes the calorimetric methods used, to elucidate the description of thermodynamic properties of surfactants at the boundary of solid-liquid interfaces. Isotherm power-compensation calorimetry is an essential method for such measurements. Isoperibolic heat-flux calorimetry is described for the evaluation of adsorption kinetics, DSC is used for the evaluation of enthalpy measurements, and immersion microcalorimetry is recommended for the detection of enthalpic interaction between a bare surface and a solution. Batch sorption, titration sorption, and flow sorption microcalorimetry are also discussed. 

Solution calorimetry covers the measurement of the energy changes that occur when a compound or a mixture (solid, liquid or gas) is mixed, dissolved or adsorbed in a solvent or a solution. In addition it includes the measurement of the heat capacity of the resultant solution. Solution calorimeters are usually subdivided by the method in which the components are mixed, namely, batch, titration and flow. 

The enthalpy change associated with formation of a thermodynamically ideal solution is equal to zero. Therefore any heat change measured in a mixing calorimetry experiment is a direct indicator of the interactions in the system (Prigogine and Defay, 1954). For a simple biopolymer solution, calorimetric measurements can be conveniently made using titra-tion/flow calorimeter equipment. For example, from isothermal titration calorimetry of solutions of bovine P-casein, Portnaya et al. (2006) have determined the association behaviour, the critical micelle concentration (CMC), and the enthalpy of (de)micellization. 

The distribution of surface acidity strength has been studied by measuring the differential adsorption heat of ammonia. The differential scanning calorimetry (Setaram DSC 111) and the FTIR spectrophotometry (Nicolet 740) have been simultaneously used in order to measure the heat associated with the neutralization of the acidic sites and the amount of chemisorbed base, respectively. Once the sample is saturated at 250 °C and the total acidity measurement is obtained as the amount of base used in the titration, the measurement of the total acidity has been verified by desorption of the base at programmed temperature (TPD). A ramp of 5 °C/min between 250 °C and 500 °C has been followed, with a He flow of 20 cm3/min and using the FTIR spectrophotometry for the measurement of the desorption products. 

Calorimetry is the measurement of the heat changes which occur during a process. The calorimetric experiment is conducted under particular, controlled conditions, for example, either at constant volume in a bomb calorimeter or at constant temperature in an isothermal calorimeter. Calorimetry encompasses a very large variety of techniques, including titration, flow, reaction and sorption, and is used to study reactions of all sorts of materials from pyrotechnics to pharmaceuticals. 

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