Homogeneous liquid phase simple reaction problem

Catalysis in liquid-liquid biphasic systems has developed recently into a subject of great practical interest because it provides an attractive solution to the problems of separation of catalysts from products and of catalyst recycle in homogeneous transition metal complex catalysis. Two-phase systems consist of two immiscible solvents, e.g., an aqueous phase or another polar phase containing the catalyst and an organic phase containing the products. The reaction is homogeneous, and the recovery of the catalyst is facilitated by simple phase separation. 

The theoretical description of the kinetics of transmembrane transport through a liquid membrane should be based on the principles of solvent extraction kinetics. It should be determined by the processes at both water/membrane interphases and should also involve the intermediate step of diffusion in the membrane. Thus the existence of all these three steps makes the membrane system and its description much more complicated than the relatively simple water/organic phase. However, even the kinetics mechanism in simpler extraction systems is often based on the models dealing only with some limiting situations. As it was pointed out in the beginning of this paper, the kinetics of transmembrane transport is a fimction both of the kinetics of various chemical reactions occurring in the system and of diffusion of various species that participate in the process. The problem is that the system is not homogeneous, and concentrations of the substances at any point of the system depend on the distance from the membrane surface and are determined by both diffusion and reactions. The solution of a system of differential equations in this case can be a serious problem. 

---