On-line monitoring of chemical reactions by using bench-top nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Real-time nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy measurements carried out with a bench-top system installed next to the reactor inside the fume hood of the chemistry laboratory are presented. To test the system for on-line monitoring, a transfer hydrogenation reaction was studied by continuously pumping the reaction mixture from the reactor to the magnet and back in a closed loop. In addition to improving the time resolution provided by standard sampling methods, the use of such a flow setup eliminates the need for sample preparation. Owing to the progress in terms of field homogeneity and sensitivity now available with compact NMR spectrometers, small molecules dissolved at concentrations on the order of 1 mmol L(-1) can be characterized in single-scan measurements with 1 Hz resolution. Owing to the reduced field strength of compact low-field systems compared to that of conventional high-field magnets, the overlap in the spectrum of different NMR signals is a typical situation. The data processing required to obtain concentrations in the presence of signal overlap are discussed in detail, methods such as plain integration and line-fitting approaches are compared, and the accuracy of each method is determined. The kinetic rates measured for different catalytic concentrations show good agreement with those obtained with gas chromatography as a reference analytical method. Finally, as the measurements are performed under continuous flow conditions, the experimental setup and the flow parameters are optimized to maximize time resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.

Solid state solubility of miconazole in poly[(ethylene glycol)-g-vinyl alcohol] using hot-melt extrusion.

The use of hot-melt extrusion for preparing homogeneous API-excipient mixtures is studied for miconazole-PEG-g-PVA [poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(vinyl alcohol) graft copolymer] solid dispersions with a 5 cm(3) table-top, twin-screw corotating microcompounder (DSM Xplore). Phase behavior of PEG-g-PVA, miscibility of miconazole in PEG-g-PVA and the partitioning of miconazole between PEG and PVA amorphous phases are characterized using a combination of modulated DSC, XRPD, and solid-state (1)H and (13)C NMR methods. The (1)H NMR transverse magnetization relaxation (T(2) relaxation) method is used to analyze the phase composition and molecular mobility of the copolymer. The T(2) relaxation decay of pure PEG-g-PVA can be described by four T(2) relaxation components in the temperature range studied. PVA crystallinity is not largely affected by hot-melt extrusion and the presence of the drug. Miconazole preferably resides in the PEG amorphous phase, and its molecules are well dispersed in the PEG-g-PVA matrix using hot-melt extrusion mixing. Miconazole forms amorphous nanoclusters whose average size equals approximately 1.6 nm, indicating solid solution formation (molecular level dispersion) of the drug in the polymer.

Characterisation of UV-cured acrylate networks by means of hydrolysis followed by aqueous size-exclusion combined with reversed-phase chromatography.

UV-cured networks prepared from mixtures of di-functional (polyethylene-glycol di-acrylate) and mono-functional (2-ethylhexyl acrylate) acrylates were analysed after hydrolysis, by aqueous size-exclusion chromatography coupled to on-line reversed-phase liquid-chromatography. The mean network density and the fraction of dangling chain ends of these networks were varied by changing the concentration of mono-functional acrylate. The amount and the molar-mass distribution of the polyethylene-glycol chains between cross-links (M(XL)) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) backbone chains (the so-called kinetic chain length (kcl)) in the different acrylate networks were determined quantitatively. The molar-mass distribution of kcl revealed an almost linear dependence on the concentration of mono-functional acrylate. Analysis of the starting materials showed a significant concentration of mono-functional polyethylene-glycol acrylate. In combination with the analysis of the extractables of the UV-cured networks (polymers not attached to the network, impurities that originate from the photo-initiator and unreacted monomers), more insight in the total network structure was obtained. It was shown that the UV-cured networks contain only small fractions of residual compounds. With these results, the chemical network structure for the different UV-cured acrylate polymers was expressed in network parameters such as the number of PAA units which are cross-linked, the degree of cross-linking, and the network density, which is the molar concentration of effective network chains between cross-links per volume of the polymers. The mean molar mass of chains between chemical network junctions (M(C)) was calculated and compared with results obtained from solid-state NMR and DMA. The mean molar mass of chains between network junctions as determined by these methods was similar.

Complex morphology of melt-spun nylon-6 fibres investigated by 1H double-quantum-filtered NMR spin-diffusion experiments.

The complex morphology of high-speed melt-spun nylon-6 fibres hydrated with D2O was investigated using 1H double-quantum-filtered spin-diffusion NMR experiments. The magnetisation exchange from selected crystalline domains along the fibrils and interfibrils was simulated with the help of a three-dimensional solution of a spin-diffusion equation approximated by a product of one-dimensional analytical NMR signals, which correspond to a lamellar morphology. This allows to measure the sizes of crystalline and less-mobile amorphous domains along the fibrils, as well as the diameter of the fibrils and interfibril distances. A series of nylon-6 fibres with extreme values of winding speed and draw ratio was investigated. The changes detected in the domain size along the fibrils and interfibrils show the same trend in the data obtained from wide-angle X-ray diffraction and small-angle X-ray scattering.