White Paper Video Enables Fast and Cost-Effective Chemistry

Mettler Toledo has published another informative installment in its ‘Recent Advances in Organic Chemistry’ white paper series. The free download, entitled ‘In Situ Monitoring of Chemical Reactions — A Molecular Video’, reviews four recent case studies where sophisticated in-line monitoring techniques provided helpful chemical reaction insight.

The information gained helped researchers to accurately characterise reactions, optimise processes and speed results, essentially helping them to ‘do more with less’ — a common theme in today’s competitive chemical development laboratories.

Reviewed case studies document how inline monitoring using mid-infrared (mid-IR) technology differs from offline sampling techniques such as HPLC. Each covers a distinct experiment type, including successful bimetallic catalyst use and one-step oxidative bond separation, and helps show how advanced in situ spectroscopy, and the resulting molecular video it provides, offers critical insight into complex reaction mechanisms, kinetics and pathways. This insight allowed quick characterisation of each reaction type for timely optimisation, better batch consistency and enhanced operator safety, especially during high-pressure, high-temperature experiments.

Other explored advantages of in-line monitoring — represented in reviewed examples by Mettler Toledo’s ReactIR — included an ability to monitor bubbles and solids, which enabled robust information capture during complex catalysis and hydrogenation. Sensitivity to water absorption bands promoted accurate characterisation in aqueous environments as well. Finally, an ability to characterise reactions without sampling enabled observation of the chemistry in its natural environment, keeping reactant concentrations constant, avoiding phenomena such as quenching and allowing both qualitative and quantitative data collection, depending on the experiment’s goal. These and other advantages are helping to broaden academic and manufacturing use of in situ monitoring in laboratories around the world.

For a detailed look at representative experiments and a more thorough review of how in situ monitoring is helping to enable more cost-effective academic research and manufacturing, download the white paper free at www.mt.com/ac-ra-wp.

Mettler-Toledo AutoChem, Inc., +1 410 910 8486, patricia.hicks@mt.com, www.mt.com.