This review paper focuses on the effects of microwave irradiation on heterogeneous gas phase catalytic reaction systems. Both experimental and modeling approaches are discussed. The currently available methods for temperature measurements in the microwave heating of solid particles are critically examined. The existence of microwave-created temperature gradients in beds of solid particles is discussed. The not fully established mechanism of catalyst (nano)particle heating and imperfect temperature measurement techniques implicate that different effects are often observed and contradictory conclusions are drawn. For further progress here, the development of accurate and possibly non-invasive techniques for local temperature measurements under microwave irradiation is needed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of nanoconfinement on the molecular mobility, as well as on the physical stability, of amorphous ezetimibe drug. Two guest/host systems, ezetimibe-Aeroperl 300 and ezetimibe-Neusilin US2, were prepared and studied using various experimental techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). Our investigation has shown that the molecular mobility of the examined anticholesterol agent incorporated into nanopore matrices strongly depends on the pore size of the host system. Moreover, it was found that the amorphous ezetimibe confined in 30 nm pores of Aeroperl 300 has a tendency to recrystallize, while the drug incorporated into the smaller--5 nm--pores of Neusilin US2 is not able to crystallize. It has been shown that this significant stabilization of ezetimibe drug can be achieved by an interplay of three factors: changes in molecular dynamics of the confined amorphous drug, the immobilization effect of pore walls on a part of ezetimibe molecules, and the use of host materials with pores that are smaller than the critical size of the drug crystal nuclei.

The novel monolithic stirrer reactor is a promising replacement for a conventional slurry reactor in multi-phase reactions. In this reactor monolithic structures are used as stirrer blades, creating a catalytic stirrer. The most important advantage of the monolithic stirrer reactor is the easy catalyst handling. The influences of different parameters on the performance of the monolithic stirrer reactor in the selective hydrogenation of 3-methyl-1-pentyn-3-ol were investigated. The decreasing catalyst layer thickness with increasing cell density proved to be beneficial for the performance of the monolithic stirrer reactor. An increasing stirrer speed caused an increase in the activity because of the higher flow through the monolith channels and the improved gas-liquid mass transfer. If the length of the monolithic stirrer blades was smaller than 0.03 m the performance of the monolithic stirrer was enhanced.

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