Comprehensive monitoring of a biphasic switchable solvent synthesis

Abstract

Biphasic reactions were investigated in a specially designed high pressure set-up that allows simultaneous fibre-optic ATR IR and ATR UV-Vis measurements in both phases. The scope of quantitative spectroscopic measurements is tested on the absorption of CO₂ in hexanol and a biphasic switchable solvent synthesis. For both systems, all substances including dissolved and gaseous CO₂ can be quantified and a constant total mass balance over all phases can be achieved for every component in the reaction system. This confirms that the quantification methods are applicable and the reactor can be applied to gain further insight into the microkinetics and transport phenomena of multiphase reactions.