Issue 12, 2019

Oxygen sensors for flow reactors – measuring dissolved oxygen in organic solvents

Abstract

In an effort to push the boundaries of optical oxygen sensors, this contribution shows the development of a measurement system for high O2 content in organic solvents specifically designed for flow reactors. Presented sensors were prepared by directly melting an oxygen indicator dye into a highly resistant polymer matrix, leading to the ability to measure oxygen contents up to 59 mmol L−1 in tetrahydrofuran, toluene, acetone, dimethylformamide, cyclohexane and methyl tert-butyl ether. Long-term effects to the solvent were investigated by exposing the sensors for 22 hours to the respective solvent at 25 °C. Linearity according to Stern–Volmer was obtained for every single sensor in order to provide a system that can be easily initialized by two-point calibration into continuous flow reactors. To demonstrate the applicability of the sensor under reaction conditions, an oxidation of a Grignard reagent with molecular oxygen was performed in a flow reactor. The sensors were able to show the oxygen decrease during reaction and allowed online reactant quantification.

Graphical abstract: Oxygen sensors for flow reactors – measuring dissolved oxygen in organic solvents

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Jun 2019
Accepted
27 Aug 2019
First published
30 Aug 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

React. Chem. Eng., 2019,4, 2081-2087

Oxygen sensors for flow reactors – measuring dissolved oxygen in organic solvents

P. Sulzer, R. Lebl, C. O. Kappe and T. Mayr, React. Chem. Eng., 2019, 4, 2081 DOI: 10.1039/C9RE00253G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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