A catalytic, silicon-based, microstructured reactor was developed for the catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds, with the aim of small-scale localized air treatment. The microreactor was based on the stacking of microstructured platelets, and the active catalyst phase, i.e., platinum, was deposited onto the walls of the microchannels by the thermal evaporation technique. The experimental setup allowed testing the efficiency of the catalytic microreactor. The deep oxidation of acetone (as a target compound) in air was carried out at increasing temperatures, resulting in ignition curves. Wide ranges of inlet acetone concentrations (500-8000 ppmv) and space velocities (18,700-201,000 h -1 ) were studied. Regarding acetone oxidation, the catalytic microreactor was found to exhibit high performances in terms of conversion, selectivity, and temperatures required to reach 50 and 95 % conversions.

In this communication we report on the self-organising properties of a novel asymmetric bolaphile composed of sugar and steroidal units. The material was found to exhibit unusual phase changes in that it formed a cubic phase upon heating, whereas upon cooling it formed a lamellar phase. This change in property was ascribed to kinetic versus thermodynamic behaviour at the phase transition to the liquid.