Special Issue "Supercritical Carbon Dioxide"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Tomoko Matsuda
Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-850, Japan
Website: http://www.matsuda.bio.titech.ac.jp/index(English).html
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Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Matthew Z. Yates
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
Website: http://www.che.rochester.edu/~myates/
E-Mail:

Dear Colleagues,

Supercritical carbon dioxide has been recognized as a green solvent with high functionality as it possesses both gas-like low viscosities, high diffusivities, and liquid-like solubilizing power together with a tunability of these properties. The advantages of nonflammability, low toxicity and high availability have also promoted the development in applications using supercritical carbon dioxide. Importantly, these successes are owing to achievements of basic researches. Therefore, this special issue will present novel, unique and innovative application research as well as basic research with high quality concerning supercritical carbon dioxide to create new fields in its application. I also hope that this issue will contribute to build a sustainable society.

Tomoko Matsuda
Guest Editor

Submission

All papers should be submitted to ijms@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special issue website.

Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page. The International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed monthly journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Open Access publication fees are 800 CHF per paper. English correction fees and/or formatting fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (1050 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections).

• Supercritical carbon dioxide
• Green Chemistry
• Green solvent, Reaction
• Catalyst, Biocatalyst
• Extraction
• Chromatography

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Hybridization of Polymer and Metal by Electroless Plating Method Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
Authors: Masato Sone *, Byung-Hoon Woo, Hiroki Uchiyama, Akinobu Shibata, Chiemi Ishiyama and Yakichi Higo
Affiliations: Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: msone@pi.titech.ac.jp; Tel. +81-(0)45-924-5043; Fax: +81-(0)45-924-5044
Abstract: In this review, a novel technique for hybridization of polymer and metal by electroless plating method using a dense carbon dioxide beyond the critical point is proposed and discussed. Thin metal structures were fabricated by a novel, hybrid technique consisting of two processes: catalyzation in supercritical carbon dioxide with palladium complex and electroless plating in emulsion with dense carbon dioxide. This novel technique produces uniform metal structure with some excellent features of void-free, nodule-free metals and high adhesive strength. These good characters of the produced metal mainly come from two unique properties of supercritical carbon dioxide. One is the ability to dissolve the hydrogen bubbles eluted from sub-reaction of electroless plating. Second is the transport property to penetrate the palladium complex catalyst and the electroless plating emulsion into polymer and induce the electroless plating reaction from deep part of polymer. This novel method is applicable to fabricate fine, hybrid structures of polymer and metal with high adhesion strength.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Phytosterols: Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Plants
Authors: Marie Sajfrtová ¹, Helena Sovová ¹, Martina Wimmerová ² and Zdeněk Wimmer ^2,*
Affiliations: ¹ Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals AS CR, Rozvojová 135/2, 16500 Prague 6, Czech Republic
² Institute of Experimental Botany AS CR, Isotope Laboratory, Vídeňská 1083, 14220 Prague 4, Czech Republic
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: wimmer@biomed.cas.cz
Abstract: Plants are renewable sources of a large variety of natural products. A number of them have already been proved to display pharmacologically important features, and are used or considered for application in treatment of serious diseases. Our attention has been focused on phytosterols, a family of steroid compounds, which has not yet received adequate attention, even if different phytosterols have already been successfully applied in cancer treatment. Besides the pharmacological importance of selected plant phytosterols, molecules of phytosterols have been investigated for their potential to be used in construction of conjugates with other natural and/or synthetic molecules, which may be employed in investigation of supramolecular materials.
Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction protocols seem to represent efficient and environmentally friendly methodology for efficient extraction of phytosterols from different plant sources, i.e. seeds, roots, leaves or even whole plants. We have studied conditions of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of different plants and their parts to get considerable quantities of phytosterols, and optimized extraction conditions to increase the yields of fractions containing target steroid compounds. Result of extraction of phytosterols from several plant sources are presented in this paper.