Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Natural products can be the basis for the development of green
solvents, relevant for the advancement of new, more sustainable processes and
products. In this work, 10 binary mixtures constituted by terpenes are prepared and
characterized. Their solid−liquid phase diagrams show that room-temperature
solvents can be prepared from solid terpenes in a wide composition range. These
diagrams are accurately described by the conductor-like screening model for real
solvents, showing it to be a useful predictive tool for the design of novel natural
solvents. At the eutectic point, these mixtures possess low viscosities, densities
lower than water, and high boiling temperatures. The low water solubility in the
eutectic solvents together with its negligible impact on the properties measured is a
strong indicator of the hydrophobic character of these mixtures. The tunable
character of these mixtures is demonstrated by studying the solvatochromic
parameters in the entire concentration region, the properties of the final solvents
being tuned by simply varying the mole fraction of the terpenes. The high potential of this tunable character is shown in the
selective extraction of dyes from their aqueous solutions. This work is expected to devise new insights concerning these solvents
as well as to boost their application in green industrial processes.
Description
Keywords
COSMO-RS Eutectic mixtures Physicochemical properties SLE Terpenes Tunable
Citation
Martins, Mónia A.R.; Silva, Liliana P.; Schaeffer, Nicolas; Abranches, Dinis O.; Maximo, Guilherme J.; Pinho, Simão P.; Coutinho, João A.P. (2019). Greener Terpene-Terpene Eutectic Mixtures as Hydrophobic Solvents. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. ISSN -. 7, p. 17414-17423