Writing and publishing a scientific paper

This text is designed to give the reader a helping hand in writing a scientific paper. It provides generic advice on ways that a scientific paper can be improved. The focus is on the following ethical and non-technical issues: (1) when to start writing, and in what language; (2) how to choose a good title; (3) what should be included in the various sections (abstract, introduction, experimental, results, discussion, conclusions, and supporting information (supplementary material); (4) who should be considered as a co-author, and who should be acknowledged for help; (5) which journal should be chosen; and (6) how to respond to reviewers’ comments. Purely technical issues, such as grammar, artwork, reference styles, etc., are not considered. Graphical abstract

Risk assessment and remediation of NAPL contaminated soil and groundwater

The presence of water-immiscible organic liquids—commonly called non-aqueous phase liquids or NAPLs—in soils and groundwater, is a worldwide environmental problem. Typical examples of NAPLs include: petroleum products, organic solvents and organic liquid waste from laboratories and industry. The molecular components of NAPLs present in soils, rocks and groundwater are readily transferred to the vapour and aqueous phases. The extent to which they do this is determined by their solubility (which is quite limited) and vapour pressure (which can be quite high). These molecular components, once dispersed in the vapour phase or dissolved in the aqueous phase, can provide a long-term source of harm to biotic receptors. The object of this lecture text is to examine how we can assess the degree of harm using quantitative risk assessment and how NAPL contaminated environments can be restored through the use of chemical, biological and physical remediation technologies. Graphical abstract

Hydroformylation

Hydroformylation is one of the most important homogeneously catalyzed reactions on an industrial scale. The manufacture of bulk chemicals clearly dominates. Large cobalt- and rhodium-based processes are mature technologies that have been developed over the past 80 years. Meanwhile, the potential of hydroformylation for the production of fine chemicals (perfumes, pharmaceuticals) has also been recognized. This review gives insight into the state-of-the-art of the reaction and its development. It commences with some remarks on the accidental discovery by the German chemist Otto Roelen within the historical and personal framework of the Fischer–Tropsch process, followed by the mechanistic basics of the catalytic cycle, metals used for the catalyst as well as their organic ligands. In addition, the stability of ligands and catalysts is addressed. The huge potential of this transformation is demonstrated using a variety of substrates. Finally, the use of some surrogates for syngas is discussed.

Making sense of gas measurements: quantification of multicomponent gas mixtures in biological and chemical laboratory experiments

Textbooks in physical chemistry start from the treatise of the ideal gas. Gaseous compounds are important reactants and products of (bio)chemical reactions, and thus their absolute amounts are needed to establish mass balances. However, in contrast to solid, for dissolved and liquid compounds, their qualitative and especially quantitative analysis is less widely established in biological and chemical laboratories. This can be mainly ascribed to the seemingly simple chemical nature of gaseous compounds that is in contrast to the effort needed for their precise quantification. In this article, we will guide the reader through the considerations and steps needed to perform a meaningful analysis of multicomponent gas mixtures, which are reactants for or products of (bio)chemical reactions in aqueous solutions in the laboratory environment and scale. After a brief introduction, special focus is set on the methods for quantification and calculations needed to derive absolute amounts of gases in a mixture. The overall concept will be exemplified by biogas production as well as by an electroorganic reaction (Kolbe electrolysis of n-hexanoic acid), and general pitfalls will be highlighted.