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Synthesis and Extraction in Supercritical Fluids

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2012) | Viewed by 22965

Special Issue Editor

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology “B” and Immunology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Interests: biocatalysis in Ionic liquids; supercritical fluid technologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the major challenges to be faced by the chemical industry at the beginning of this century is the development of more efficient and environmentally friendly synthetic processes. Supercritical fluids (SCFs) are becoming increasingly popular as media for clean chemical syntheses, including the development of specialized materials. Additionally to the classic application to the extraction of pure biologically active compounds from raw materials, the unique properties of SCFs have opened a broad number of applications in the synthesis of fine chemicals by (bio)catalytic transformations, the preparation of advanced materials (e.g. nanoparticles, catalysts, polymers, porous materials, etc), as well as the design of continuous clean synthetic processes. In the last decade, furthermore, the combination of SCFs with others clean non-aqueous solvents, such as ionic liquids (ILs), was appeared as a clear strategy to develop integral green multicatalytic processes. SCFs/ILs biphasic mixtures seem to be perfect tools for green chemical synthesis, and the interest for application at industrial scale is beyond doubt. The door leading to a green chemical industry is open.

This Special Issue on Synthesis in Supercritical Fluids will offer an attractive forum to present the (bio)catalytic synthesis and/or the down-stream processes for fine chemicals, nutraceuticals, fuels, etc., including the preparation and/or application of advanced materials in SCFs. I strongly encourage authors to submit papers for this Special Issue on Synthesis in Supercritical Fluids, within the scope of Molecules. I hope that the topics covered will reflect the potential and the excitement of SCFs in the green chemical community.

Prof. Dr. Pedro Lozano
Guest Editor

Keywords

  • catalysts in SCFs: Preparation and applications
  • continuous synthetic processes in SCFs
  • biocatalysts in SCFs
  • nanoparticles in SCFs
  • SCFs in biofuels technology
  • SCFs in green chemistry
  • supercritical extraction
  • supercritical fluids / ionic liquids systems

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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330 KiB  
Article
Supercritical Extraction of Lycopene from Tomato Industrial Wastes with Ethane
by Beatriz P. Nobre, Luisa Gouveia, Patricia G. S. Matos, Ana F. Cristino, António F. Palavra and Rui L. Mendes
Molecules 2012, 17(7), 8397-8407; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules17078397 - 11 Jul 2012
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6205
Abstract
Supercritical fluid extraction of all-E-lycopene from tomato industrial wastes (mixture of skins and seeds) was carried out in a semi-continuous flow apparatus using ethane as supercritical solvent. The effect of pressure, temperature, feed particle size, solvent superficial velocity and matrix initial [...] Read more.
Supercritical fluid extraction of all-E-lycopene from tomato industrial wastes (mixture of skins and seeds) was carried out in a semi-continuous flow apparatus using ethane as supercritical solvent. The effect of pressure, temperature, feed particle size, solvent superficial velocity and matrix initial composition was evaluated. Moreover, the yield of the extraction was compared with that obtained with other supercritical solvents (supercritical CO2 and a near critical mixture of ethane and propane). The recovery of all-E-lycopene increased with pressure, decreased with the increase of the particle size in the initial stages of the extraction and was not practically affected by the solvent superficial velocity. The effect of the temperature was more complex. When the temperature increased from 40 to 60 °C the recovery of all-E-lycopene increased from 80 to 90%. However, for a further increase to 80 °C, the recovery remained almost the same, indicating that some E-Z isomerization could have occurred, as well as some degradation of lycopene. The recovery of all-E-lycopene was almost the same for feed samples with different all-E-lycopene content. Furthermore, when a batch with a higher all-E-lycopene content was used, supercritical ethane and a near critical mixture of ethane and propane showed to be better solvents than supercritical CO2 leading to a faster extraction with a higher recovery of the carotenoid. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis and Extraction in Supercritical Fluids)
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376 KiB  
Article
Supercritical Fluid Extraction and Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography of Respiratory Quinones for Microbial Community Analysis in Environmental and Biological Samples
by Muhammad Hanif, Yoichi Atsuta, Koichi Fujie and Hiroyuki Daimon
Molecules 2012, 17(3), 2628-2642; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules17032628 - 05 Mar 2012
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7203
Abstract
Microbial community structure plays a significant role in environmental assessment and animal health management. The development of a superior analytical strategy for the characterization of microbial community structure is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we developed an effective supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) [...] Read more.
Microbial community structure plays a significant role in environmental assessment and animal health management. The development of a superior analytical strategy for the characterization of microbial community structure is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we developed an effective supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method for the analysis of bacterial respiratory quinones (RQ) in environmental and biological samples. RQ profile analysis is one of the most widely used culture-independent tools for characterizing microbial community structure. A UPLC equipped with a photo diode array (PDA) detector was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of ubiquinones (UQ) and menaquinones (MK) without tedious pretreatment. Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) extraction with the solid-phase cartridge trap proved to be a more effective and rapid method for extracting respiratory quinones, compared to a conventional organic solvent extraction method. This methodology leads to a successful analytical procedure that involves a significant reduction in the complexity and sample preparation time. Application of the optimized methodology to characterize microbial communities based on the RQ profile was demonstrated for a variety of environmental samples (activated sludge, digested sludge, and compost) and biological samples (swine and Japanese quail feces). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis and Extraction in Supercritical Fluids)
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Review

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320 KiB  
Review
Supercritical Synthesis of Biodiesel
by Juana M. Bernal, Pedro Lozano, Eduardo García-Verdugo, M. Isabel Burguete, Gregorio Sánchez-Gómez, Gregorio López-López, Mathieu Pucheault, Michel Vaultier and Santiago V. Luis
Molecules 2012, 17(7), 8696-8719; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules17078696 - 23 Jul 2012
Cited by 71 | Viewed by 8972
Abstract
The synthesis of biodiesel fuel from lipids (vegetable oils and animal fats) has gained in importance as a possible source of renewable non-fossil energy in an attempt to reduce our dependence on petroleum-based fuels. The catalytic processes commonly used for the production of [...] Read more.
The synthesis of biodiesel fuel from lipids (vegetable oils and animal fats) has gained in importance as a possible source of renewable non-fossil energy in an attempt to reduce our dependence on petroleum-based fuels. The catalytic processes commonly used for the production of biodiesel fuel present a series of limitations and drawbacks, among them the high energy consumption required for complex purification operations and undesirable side reactions. Supercritical fluid (SCF) technologies offer an interesting alternative to conventional processes for preparing biodiesel. This review highlights the advances, advantages, drawbacks and new tendencies involved in the use of supercritical fluids (SCFs) for biodiesel synthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis and Extraction in Supercritical Fluids)
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