Summary The coupled heat and mass transfer in soil can be analysed by examining the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity. We have measured the thermal conductivity of two kinds of soil (Ando soil and Red Yellow soil) as a function of both temperature (5–75°C) and water content by the twin heat probe method. From our results we concluded that the thermal conductivity resulting from the latent heat transfer can be separated from the apparent thermal conductivity by subtracting the thermal conductivity at a temperature near 0°C from that at a higher temperature. The relation between the phenomenological enhancement factor (β) and the volumetric air‐filled porosity was divided into two parts: β increases linearly as the volumetric air‐filled porosity increases from zero (that is, water saturation), to the point at which soil water potential corresponds to −320 J kg−1; from that point to oven‐dry condition, β decreased logistically with the volumetric air‐filled porosity. From these results, we could generalize the behaviour of β.

H i g h Y i e l d P r o c e d u r e f o r C a r b o n -C a r b o n B o n d -F o r m i n g R e a c t i o n sAbstract: We demonstrate the efficiency of Me 3 SiNTf 2 (0.3-1.0 mol%) as a strong Lewis acid catalyst for the Mukaiyama aldol and Sakurai-Hosomi allylation reactions, and that the slow addition of carbonyl compounds to a solution of acid catalyst and Me 3 Si-Nu is very important for suppressing side products; this may be widely accepted as a common and reasonable general procedure for the Lewis acid-induced reaction of Me 3 Si-Nu with carbonyl compounds.

The silyl Lewis acid induced Mukaiyama aldol reaction proceeds through each catalytic cycle under the influence of their conjugate bases; there is an especially significant difference between the low nucleophilic conjugate bases, –NTf2 and –CTf3, and the relatively high nucleophilic –OTf. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)

The Me3SiX-induced Mukaiyama aldol reaction proceeds through each catalytic cycle under the influence of X-: the silyl group of Me3SiNTf2 does not release from -NTf2 and that of silyl enol ether intermolecularly transfers to the product, while the silyl group of Me3SiOTf remains in the product and that of the silyl enol ether becomes the catalyst for the next catalytic cycle.