Supplementary Funding for Women, Minority, and Handicapped Eng. Res. Assist.: An Investigation of the Effect of Pore Size...Aromatic Compounds Catalyzed by Ni/Si02

本研究的目的是在反应物种的分子大小与发生反应的材料内的孔大小相当的系统中，通过实验确定孔大小对反应速率的影响。基于孔尺寸影响多孔材料中大分子本征反应速率的假设，将建立一个研究计划，以考察在代表石油原料加工和改进以及在生物技术领域具有重要意义的模型反应系统中的影响。这项研究的目的是解决这样的问题：这种影响是否存在？观察到不同的反应系统之间有什么不同，例如，固定化酶反应和催化加氢反应？需要什么实验技术才能明确地研究这种影响？速率常数与分子直径与孔径之比的函数关系是什么？

The objectives of this research are to experimentally identify the effects of pore size on reaction rate in systems where the molecular size of the reacting species is comparable to that of the pore sizes within the material where the reaction is taking place. Based on the hypothesis that pore size influences the intrinsic reaction rate of large molecules within porous materials, a research program will be estalbished to investigate the effect in model reaction systems representative of the processing and upgrading of petroleum feedstocks as well as those of importance in the biotechnology field. The goal of the research is to address questions such as: Does the effect exist? What differences are observed between various reaction systems, for example, immobilized enzyme reactions versus catalytic hydrogenation reactions? What experimental techniques are needed to study the effect unambiguously? What is the functional dependence of the rate constants on the ratio of molecular diameter to pore diameter?