Liquid-phase reactive intermediates,

Xu, G., Chen, B., Guo, B., He, D., Yao, S. (2011) Detection of Intermediates for the Eschweiler-Clarke Reaction by Liquid-phase Reactive Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. Analyst 136 2385-2390. 

In the past years, chemiluminescence (CL) analysis of inorganic compounds has been extensively developed in both gas and liquid phases. These methods typically rely on the oxidation or reduction of a chemically reactive agent and the subsequent emission of a photon from an electronically excited-state intermediate. 

All these advances have resulted not only in increases in resolution but have also alleviated the detection problems to a considerable extent. As a result, the last decade has seen a dramatic growth in 15N- and 170-NMR spectroscopy as a versatile method for studying molecular structure, both in isotropic (liquid) and anisotropic (solid) phases. Studies at a natural abundance level of the nucleides are now commonplace. The scope of chemical applications extends from inorganic, organometallic and organic chemistry to biochemistry and molecular biology, and includes the study of reactive intermediates, biopolymers and enzyme-inhibitor complexes. 

The development of mass spectrometric ionization methods at atmospheric pressures (API), such as the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)99 and the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)100 has made it possible to study liquid-phase solutions by mass spectrometry. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled to a micro-reactor was used to investigate radical cation chain reaction is solution101. The tris (p-bromophenyl)aminium hexachloro antimonate mediated [2 + 2] cycloaddition of trans-anethole to give l,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,4-dimethylcyclobutane was investigated and the transient intermediates 9 + and 10 + were detected and characterized directly in the reacting solution. However, steady state conditions are necessary for the detection of reactive intermediates and therefore it is crucial that the reaction must not be complete at the moment of electrospray ionization to be able to detect the intermediates. 

MO studies of aromatic nitration cast doubt on the existence of jt-complexes and electron-transfer complexes in liquid-phase nitrations.14 The enthalpy of protonation of aromatic substrates provides a very good index of substrate reactivity to nitration. Coulomb interaction between electrophile and substituent can be a special factor influencing regioselectivity. A detailed DFT study of the reaction of toluene with the nitronium ion has been reported.15 Calculated IR spectra for the Wheland intermediates suggest a classical SE2 mechanism. MO calculations of cationic localization energies for the interaction of monosubstituted benzenes with the nitronium ion correlate with observed product yields.16... 

Basic nitrogen compounds form in FTT reactions in the presence of NHj (Fig. 6). In the early experiments, the temperature was briefly raised to 500-700 °C (Hayatsu et al., 1968, 1972 Yang and Oro, 1971), but this may not be necessary, at least with a montmorillonite catalyst (Anders et al., 1974). The reaction mechanism is obscure, but probably involves reactive intermediates such as HCN, nitriles, or acetylenes (Hayatsu et al., 1968, 1972 Anders et al., 1974). It is not clear whether a liquid water phase, as generally formed in the cold neck of the vessel, is e ntial. A detail, systematic study of this reaction would be very desirable, to see what conditions are required, and whether they are realistic for the solar nebula. 

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate at which a chemical reaction approaches equilibrium without, itself, becoming permanently involved in the reaction. The key word in this definition is permanently since there is ample evidence showing that the catalyst and the reactants interact before a reaction can take place. The product of this interaction is a reactive intermediate from which the products are formed. This substratexatalyst interaction can take place homogeneously with both the reactants and the catalyst in the same phase, usually the liquid, or it can occur at the interface between two phases. These heterogeneously catalyzed reactions generally utilize a solid catalyst with the interaction taking place at either the gas/solid or liquid/solid interface. Additional phase transport problems can arise when a gaseous reactant is also present in the liquid/solid system. 

The synthesis of cyclohexanone, which is an intermediate in the manufacture of nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 is an important industrial process [1], One of the major current routes for the synthesis of cyclohexanone is the liquid-phase autoxidation of cyclohexane at 125-160 °C and 10 bar followed by the selective decomposition of the intermediate cyclohexyl hydroperoxide, using a soluble cobalt catalyst, to a mixture of cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone [2]. These severe conditions are necessary due to the low reactivity of cyclohexane towards autoxidation. Due to the high reactivity of the products in the autoxidation step conversions must be kept low (<10%) [3,4]. Heterogeneous catalysts potentially offer several advantages over their homogeneous counterparts, for example, ease of recovery and recycling and enhanced stability. Recently we found that chromium substituted aluminophosphate-5 and chromium substituted silicalite-1 (CrS-1) are active, selective and recyclable catalysts for the decomposition of cyclohexyl hydroperoxide to cyclohexanone [5j. 

---