High Pressure Chemistry

High pressure chemistry is a widely used methodology in organic synthesis which helps to increase the rate and to improve the efficiency of chemical processes. The current publication outlines the impact of pressure on many types of chemical reactions important from synthetic point of view and gives practical considerations how to plan and perform synthetic experiments under high pressure in the lab.

There is no paucity of books on high pressure. Beginning with P. W. Bridgman's The Physics of High Pressure, books of general interest include the two-volume Physics and Chemistry of High Pressure, edited by R. S. Bradley, and the series, Advances in High Pressure Research, as well as the report on the Lake George Conference in 1960. Solid state physics is well represented by Solids Under Pressure, edited by Paul and Warschauer, by Physics of Solids at High Pressure, edited by Tomizuka and Emrick, and by Properties Physiques des Solides sous Pression, edited by Bloch, as well as by chapters in Volumes 6, 13, 17, and 19 of Solid State Physics, edited by Seitz, Turnbull, and Ehrenreich. Chemistry in gases and liquids is covered in Weale's Chemical Reactions at High Pressure, and Hamann's Physico-chemical Effects of Pressure. In addition to the coverage of techniques and calibrations in the above volumes, Modern Very High Pressure Techniques, edited by Wentorf, High Pressure Methods in Solid State Research, by C. C. Bradley, The Accurate Characterization of the High Pressure Environment, edited by E. C. Lloyd, and a chapter in Volume 11 of Solid State Physics are devoted entirely to this facet of high pressure research. It is not our plan either to supersede or extend these approaches. It is our purpose here to discuss the effect of high pressure on the electronic properties of solids.

Clear evidence of increasing demands in the processing industry prompted the editors and authors to publish a new book about High Pressure Process Technology: Fundamentals and Applications.This book presents the latest knowledge regarding the high pressure processing aspects combined with that about the modeling, the design and the operation of safe and reliable high pressure plants and equipment. This treatment and selection of the subjects is stimulating and unique. Consisting of nine chapters, each subdivided into several sections, the book addresses the high pressure aspects, providing well selected correlated information connected with a comprehensive overview together with a large number of references. The main body of the first eight chapters refers to subjects like high pressure in general, the thermodynamics and kinetics of the fluids involved, the design of high pressure equipment, the modeling and design of reactors, separation and fractionation units, the safety aspects, the control and economics.In the extended last chapter, examples of promising high pressure applications are explained, such as chemical and enzymatic reactions in supercritical solvents, hydrogenation under supercritical conditions, supercritical water oxidation, polymerization with metallocene catalysts, supercritical extraction, fractionation and precipitation, supercritical pharma processing, ultra-high pressure sterilization and supercritical dry-cleaning.

This monograph, which is the outcome of the ASI on High Pressure Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Materials Science, illustrates new developments in the field of high pressure science. In fact, for chemists, biochemists, and materials scientists, pressure as an experimental variable represents a tool which provides unique information about systems of materials studied. It is interesting to note how the growth of the high pressure field is also reflected in the content of the recent ASI's dealing with this field. The ASI High Pressure Chemistry held in 1977 was followed by the ASI High Pressure Chemistry and Biochemistry held in 1986, and the coverage of the present ASI also includes applications to materials science. In view of the teaching character of the ASI, it is natural that main contributions to this volume present overviews of the different subfields or applications of high pressure research. In contrast, contributed papers offer more specialized aspects of various high pressure studies. The various contributions to this volume make clear the impressive range of fundamental and applied problems that can be studied by high pressure techniques, and also point towards a major growth of high pressure science and technology in the near future. This ASI focused mainly on advances achieved in the six years since the previous ASI devoted to the high pressure field. The organization of this volume is as follows.

Volume 41 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry introduces to the field of high-temperature and high-pressure crystal chemistry, both as a guide to the dramatically improved techniques and as a summary of the voluminous crystal chemical literature on minerals at high temperature and pressure. The three parts of the book introduces crystal chemical considerations of special relevance to non-ambient crystallographic studies, reviews the temperature- and pressure-variation of structures in major mineral groups and presents experimental techniques for high-temperature and high-pressure studies of single crystals and polycrystalline samples as well as special considerations relating to diffractometry on samples at non-ambient conditions.