Supercritical fluids and gas-expanded liquids as tunable media for multiphase catalytic reactions

Tunable solvents: Shades of green

“…A gas expanded liquid (GXL) is created when a compressible gas such as CO 2 modifies a liquid solvent in this manner, causing an expansion of the liquid phase. Complete explanations can be found in dedicated review articles [28][29][30][31][32]. In some cases (ethyl acetate and acetonitrile are two notable examples) this volume expansion can be an order of magnitude in excess of the original solvent volume [29,33].…”

Discrimination of methanol desorption resistance relative to the reaction steps in presence of supercritical n-hexane

“…Supercritical fluid (SCF) is obtained when a compound surpasses its critical temperature (T C ) and pressure (P C ) [16]. At this point the fluid displays intermediate properties between a gas and a liquid, producing a unique medium with many of the advantages of both states of matter [17][18][19]. Compared with most commonly liquid solvents, SCF often proves to be more efficient in solubility and desorption, which is favorable for the removal of the reaction products from the catalyst surface [20,21].…”

Enhanced solubility of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in propane‐ and propylene‐expanded liquids

“…in the GXL phase and provides beneficial mass transfer properties (higher diffusivities and lower viscosities) compared to neat organic solvents. Further, the physical and transport properties of GXLs are tunable with gas pressure …”