The adsorption behavior of four perfluoroalkyl acids, including the environmentally relevant perfluorooctanoic acid, has been investigated on a straight-chain perfluorohexyl adsorbent. The aim of this study was to probe the potential of perfluorinated materials for the analysis and enrichment of perfluoroalkyl analytes. Water/acetonitrile mixtures, to which formic acid had been added (generally, 0.1%), were employed as mobile phases. For all perfluorinated acids, a U-shaped retention profile was observed by changing the amount of acetonitrile in the mobile phase. This behavior has been correlated to the excess adsorption of the organic component on the adsorbent surface. The concept of perfluoromethylene selectivity has been defined as the ability of a chromatographic system to discriminate between molecules that differ by a single perfluoromethylene group. The contribution to the Gibbs free energy of phase transfer for the passage of a perfluoroalkyl carbon from the mobile to the stationary phase has been evaluated. This information, in addition to the traditional van't Hoff analysis, has also been used to estimate the analogous contribution for the transfer of a carboxylic unit. Finally, insights into the retention mechanisms of perfluoroalkyl acids on straight-chain perfluorohexyl sorbents are discussed.

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An (S)-5-(pyrrolidin-2-yl)-1H-tetrazole organocatalyst has been prepared in the form of a monolithic column through the radical copolymerization of a styryl-functionalized pyrrolidinyl-tetrazole derivative, sty- rene and divinylbenzene in the presence of porogens (dodecanol and toluene). The activity of the mono- lithic pyrrolidinyl-tetrazole organocatalyst (triturated polymer) has been initially tested under batch condi- tions using the asymmetric aldol reaction of cyclohexanone and p-nitrobenzaldehyde as the benchmark. A prerequisite of the study has been the utilization of the eco-friendly water–ethanol mixture as the solvent. After having established the high efficiency and recyclability of the catalyst under these conditions, the effect of the flow regime has been evaluated by fabricating the corresponding monolithic microreactor (pressure-resistant stainless steel column). It has been demonstrated by a brief substrate scope study that the flow regime contributes to preserve the activity of the pyrrolidinyl-tetrazole catalyst over time (5 days on stream) with an almost twofold increase in productivity moving from batch to flow conditions. An added value of the flow procedure has been the optimization of a suitable 2D instrumental setup for simultaneous flow reaction and online flow-injection analysis

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