Chemical Characterization of Terpene-Based Hydrophobic Eutectic Solvents and Their Application for Pb(II) Complexation during Solvent Extraction Procedure.

Solvents prepared from natural terpenes (menthol and thymol), as H-bond acceptors, and a series of organic acids (chain lengths of 8, 10, and 14 C atoms), as H-bond donors, were characterized and tested as reaction media for liquid-liquid extraction purposes. Due to their high hydrophobicity, they seem to be promising alternatives to conventional (nonpolar and toxic) solvents, since they possess relatively less toxic, less volatile, and consequently, more environmentally friendly characteristics. Assuming that the equilibrium is established between solvent and analyte during a ligandless procedure, it can be concluded that those nonpolar solvents can efficiently extract nonpolar analytes from the aqueous environment. Previous investigations showed a wide range of applications, including their use as solvents in extractions of metal cations, small molecules, and bioactive compounds for food and pharmaceutical applications. In this work, hydrophobic solvents based on natural terpenes, which showed chemical stability and desirable physicochemical and thermal properties, were chosen as potential reaction media in the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) procedure for Pb(II) removal from aqueous solutions. Low viscosities and high hydrophobicities of prepared solvents were confirmed as desirable properties for their application. Extraction parameters were optimized, and chosen solvents were applied. The results showed satisfactory extraction efficiencies in simple and fast procedures, followed by low solvent consumption. The best results (98%) were obtained by the thymol-based solvent, thymol-decanoic acid (Thy-DecA) 1:1, followed by L-menthol-based solvents: menthol-octanoic acid (Men-OctA) 1:1 with 97% and menthol-decanoic acid (Men-DecA) 1:1 with 94.3% efficiency.

Influence of blackberry leaf extract on the copper corrosion behaviour in 0.5 M NaCl.

The research presented in this paper is focused on blackberry leaf extract (BLE) as a environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor for copper in 0.5 M NaCl. The caffeic acid, quercetin-3-O-glucoside and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside were identified in BLE by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD). The BLE functional groups were identified (ATR-FTIR). The electrochemical methods (potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical frequency modulation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) show that BLE acts as a mixed type of inhibitor (max. IE is 97.19 %). The corrosion process is controlled by diffusion (BLE lower than 15 g/L) and charge transfer (15 g/L BLE).

Efficient formation of benzylic quaternary centers via palladium catalysis.

Four's a crowd: An efficient protocol for the formation of benzylic quaternary centers via arylation of enones using a catalyst made from Pd(O2 CCF3 )2 and 2,2'-bipyridine is developed. For cyclic substrates, catalyst loadings as low as 1 mol % Pd are enough to afford excellent yields (>90%) using a variety of arylboronic acids. In case of acyclic substrates, the addition of KSbF6 was found to improve conversions and yields.