Model system synthetic procedure

Poly(para-phenylenevinylene)s (PPVs) represent one of the most intensively investigated classes of rr-conjugated materials. Many synthetic procedures to generate unsubstituted and substituted PPVs have been developed. They include 1,6-polymerizations of 1,4-xylylene intermediates as well as several polycondensation methods. Parallel to the polymer syntheses, several series of PPV oligomers (OPVs) have been synthesized and characterized. Such model oligomers of different molecular size allow for a study of the dependence of electronic and optical properties on the length of the conjugated Ti-system. 

The emphasis in the following sections will be on exploratory model reactions carried out with phosphazene cyclic trimers or tetramers, although the analogous macromolecules systems have also been studied in several cases. First, I will summarize the various types of metal binding sites that are accessible at the present time. Synthetic procedures leading to the incorporation of several of these sites and their role in metal binding will then be discussed. 

The enedione (15), a tetracyclic intermediate on a synthetic route to fusidic acid, has been synthesized from the a-methylene-ketone (16) (Scheme 2). The first step, involving a Diels-Alder reaction with a substituted acrylate (17), provides a new versatile annelation procedure. Further modification of (15) by a route worked out on model systems (see Vol. 4, p. 318) afforded the tetracyclic enone (24) with the desired trans-syn-trans geometry (Scheme 3). This compound (24) has also been prepared by degradation of fusidic acid. Attempts to introduce the C-11 oxygen function necessary for the synthesis of fusidic acid have not been very... 

Interest in research into new synthetic routes for semiconductor nanocrystallites has now increased as devices based upon such materials have been fabricated [3-5]. Theoretical models predicting the optical properties of semiconductors nanoparticles are available [6-10] but the properties of nanoparticles obtained by any new synthetic procedure are hard to anticipate. High purity, monodispersity and the ability to control the surface derivatiza-tion are the requirements for this system. 

Since no synthetic chemistiy infrastructure was available at the Department (or, indeed, the Institute) before 2008, polyciystalline samples of catalysts had to be obtained from external, often industrial, partners. In order to produce model systems in house, researchers in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry developed a suite of instruments allowing the synthesis of metal oxides by physical vapor deposition of elements and by annealing procedures at ambient pressure. They chose the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene on iron oxides as the subject of their first major study. Figure 6.6 summarizes the main results. The technical catalyst (A) is a complex convolution of phases, with the active sites located at the solid-solid interface. It was possible to synthesize well-ordered thin films (D) of the relevant ternary potassium iron oxide and to determine their chemical structure and reactivity. In parallel. Department members developed a micro-reactor device (B) allowing them to measure kinetic data (C) on such thin films. In this way, they were able to obtain experimental data needed for kinetic modeling under well-defined reaction conditions, which they could use to prove that the model reaction occurs in the same way as the reaction in the real-life system. Thin oxide... 

Ultrasound can thus be used to enhance kinetics, flow, and mass and heat transfer. The overall results are that organic synthetic reactions show increased rate (sometimes even from hours to minutes, up to 25 times faster), and/or increased yield (tens of percentages, sometimes even starting from 0% yield in nonsonicated conditions). In multiphase systems, gas-liquid and solid-liquid mass transfer has been observed to increase by 5- and 20-fold, respectively [35]. Membrane fluxes have been enhanced by up to a factor of 8 [56]. Despite these results, use of acoustics, and ultrasound in particular, in chemical industry is mainly limited to the fields of cleaning and decontamination [55]. One of the main barriers to industrial application of sonochemical processes is control and scale-up of ultrasound concepts into operable processes. Therefore, a better understanding is required of the relation between a cavitation coUapse and chemical reactivity, as weU as a better understanding and reproducibility of the influence of various design and operational parameters on the cavitation process. Also, rehable mathematical models and scale-up procedures need to be developed [35, 54, 55]. 

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