Heterogeneous systems competitive adsorption

Bonded stationary phases for NPC are becoming increasingly popular in recent years owing to their virtues of faster column equilibration and being less prone to contamination by water. The use of iso-hydric (same water concentration) solvents is not needed to obtain reproducible results. However, predicting solute retention on bonded stationary phases is more difficult than when silica is used. This is largely because of the complexity of associations possible between solvent molecules and the chemically and physically heterogeneous bonded phase surface. Several models of retention on bonded phases have been advocated, but their validity, particularly when mixed solvent systems are used as mobile phase, can be questioned. The most commonly accepted retention mechanism is Snyder s model, which assumes the competitive adsorption between solutes and solvent molecules on active sites... 

The zeolite is rigid and ordered, and lacks conformational adaptability, in contrast to an enzyme, which can coil, uncoil, and twist around. Yet the zeolite can incorporate transition metal functions—these are of prime importance in enzyme catalysis—and it can effect redox reactions reactions over zeolites can be inhibited by competitive adsorption of reactants, products, solvents, or poisons—a phenomenon observed in biological and some other inorganic heterogeneous catalytic systems Rideal kinetics have been identified in some zeolite-catalyzed alkylations, a pattern which has its parallels in the enzyme field a few cases of stereospecificity (such as orfho-alkylation effects, unusual olefin isomer ratios), where a transition state not otherwise attainable intervenes, may exist. What better group of catalysts than zeolites might there have been to activate the evolutionary process in the dark, fermenting Pre-Cambrian seas some 1,000,000,000 years ago ... 

The diene cyclization shown in Eqn. 2, has been reported to take place only over RhCl3 and Wilkinson s catalyst (ref. 6). We have found that it also occurs when run over supported Rh catalysts. The heterogeneously catalyzed reaction is particularly sensitive to the nature of the solvent used. With alcohols or other solvents which can adsorb on the catalyst, there is an apparent competition with the adsorption of the double bonds and the cyclization does not take place. In alkane solvents, which do not interact with the catalyst, the reaction occurs with reasonable facility. This cyclization is run routinely at 145°C in a flow system with a decane solution of 5 passing through a small column containing a Rh/Al2Oj catalyst. The product composition was related to the time 5 was in contact with the catalyst. With fast flow rates (short contact times) 6 was the primary product of the reaction but the isomerized species, 7 and 8, were produced when slower flow rates were used. This indicates that 6 was the primary product of the reaction but that it was isomerized over the catalyst to 7 and 8. 

The mechanism given above places no restrictions on the source of the reversible poison. Consequently, the poisoning can be due not to an adsorption competition between the reactant and a diluent but to an adsorption competition between the reactant and one or more of the reaction products. When this occurs the products will determine the kinetics in the flow type and static systems where appreciable conversion is allowed. Under these conditions the kinetics may be expressed by equations similar to equation (6), and the order will be determined by the magnitude of constants similar to H which depend upon the various velocity constants and adsorption equilibrium constants of the heterogeneous reaction. 

The prediction of multicomponent equilibria based on the information derived from the analysis of single component adsorption data is an important issue particularly in the domain of liquid chromatography. To solve the general adsorption isotherm, Equation (27.2), Quinones et al. [156] have proposed an extension of the Jovanovic-Freundlich isotherm for each component of the mixture as local adsorption isotherms. They tested the model with experimental data on the system 2-phenylethanol and 3-phenylpropanol mixtures adsorbed on silica. The experimental data was published elsewhere [157]. The local isotherm employed to solve Equation (27.2) includes lateral interactions, which means a step forward with respect to, that is, Langmuir equation. The results obtained account better for competitive data. One drawback of the model concerns the computational time needed to invert Equation (27.2) nevertheless the authors proposed a method to minimize it. The success of this model compared to other resides in that it takes into account the two main sources of nonideal behavior surface heterogeneity and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. The authors pointed out that there is some degree of thermodynamic inconsistency in this and other models based on similar -assumptions. These inconsistencies could arise from the simplihcations included in their derivation and the main one is related to the monolayer capacity of each component [156]. 

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