Molar mass | EPFL Graph Search

In chemistry, the molar mass (M) of a chemical compound is defined as the ratio between the mass and the amount of substance (measured in moles) of any sample of said compound. The molar mass is a bulk, not molecular, property of a substance. The molar mass is an average of many instances of the compound, which often vary in mass due to the presence of isotopes. Most commonly, the molar mass is computed from the standard atomic weights and is thus a terrestrial average and a function of the relative abundance of the isotopes of the constituent atoms on Earth. The molar mass is appropriate for converting between the mass of a substance and the amount of a substance for bulk quantities. The molecular mass and formula mass are commonly used as a synonym of molar mass, particularly for molecular compounds; however, the most authoritative sources define it differently. The difference is that molecular mass is the mass of one specific particle or molecule, while the molar mass is an average over many particles or molecules. The formula weight is a synonym of molar mass that is frequently used for non-molecular compounds, such as ionic salts. The molar mass is an intensive property of the substance, that does not depend on the size of the sample. In the International System of Units (SI), the coherent unit of molar mass is kg/mol. However, for historical reasons, molar masses are almost always expressed in g/mol. The mole was defined in such a way that the molar mass of a compound, in g/mol, is numerically equal to the average mass of one molecule, in daltons. It was exactly equal before the redefinition of the mole in 2019, and is now only approximately equal, but the difference is negligible for all practical purposes. Thus, for example, the average mass of a molecule of water is about 18.0153 daltons, and the molar mass of water is about 18.0153 g/mol. For chemical elements without isolated molecules, such as carbon and metals, the molar mass is computed dividing by the number of moles of atoms instead.

Identification of Isomeric Biomolecules by Infrared Spectroscopy of Solvent-Tagged Ions

Andrei Zviagin

The difference in functionality of many isomeric biomolecules requires their analytical identification for life science studies. We present a universal approach for quantitative identification of different small- to medium-sized isomeric biomolecules that can be brought to the gas phase from solution by electrospray ionization (ESI). The method involves infrared (IR) fragment cold ion spectroscopy of analyte molecules that are incompletely desolvated by soft ESI. The use of solvent molecules as natural tags removes a need for adding to solutions any special compounds, which may interfere with liquid chromatography or mass spectrometric measurements. The tested peptides and especially monosaccharides and lipids exhibit highly isomerspecific IR fragment spectra of such noncovalent complexes, which were produced from water, methanol, acetonitrile, and 2butanol solutions. The relative concentrations in solution mixtures of, for instance, two isomeric dipeptides can be quantified with the accuracy of 1.6% and 2.9% for the acquisition time of 25 min and, potentially, 5 s, respectively; for three isomeric phosphooctapeptides, the accuracy becomes 4.1% and 11% for 17 min and, potentially, 10 s measurements, respectively.

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2022

Stretchable piezoelectric elastic composites for sensors and energy generators

Dragan Damjanovic, Frank Nüesch, Tym De Wild, Jose Enrico Quijano Quinsaat

The search for a piezoelectric elastomer that generates an electrical signal when pressed and stretched has increased significantly in the last decade as they hold great promise in harvesting energy from human motion and monitoring human activities. Here, the excellent elasticity of polydimethylsiloxane-based elastomers and the piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) were combined and, using a thermally activated poling process, elastic piezoelectric composites were obtained. For this, two polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrices with a molar mass of 139 kDa and 692 kDa and PZT fillers with particle sizes of 2 and 20 μm were used. For the same poling conditions, an increase in the piezoelectric response with increasing amount of filler, filler size and molar mass of the polymer matrix was observed. Overall, d33 and d31 values of 2.7–40 pC N−1 and 16–48 pC N−1 were achieved in this work with filler contents ranging from 37–72 vol%. A composite material with a PZT filler content of 38 vol% (20 μm particle size) in a commercially available PDMS with a Mw = 139 kg mol−1 exhibited high flexibility, good elasticity with long-term mechanical stretchability and high longitudinal and transverse piezoelectric coefficients of 3.6 pC N−1 and 30 pC N−1, respectively. The higher transverse piezoelectric constant d*31 can be explained by an additional capacitor effect of the composite film structure. These properties are interesting features for energy conversion from human motion, monitoring human activities, and stretchable electronics. The functionality of the newly developed material is demonstrated in a pressed sensor.

2020

Wastewater and green waste biorefinery Degradation of simple sugars using mixed cultures of purple non-sulfur bacteria: an insight into microbial interactions

Guillaume Crosset-Perrotin

Purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) are phototrophic organisms that have raised interest for both industrial and domestic wastewater treatment and valorization because of their very high assimilation (~1 g CODX g-1 COD substrate) and valuable compounds production (i.e hydrogen, polyhydroxyalkanoates, pigments). PNSB have been studied mostly in pure- or co-cultures with fermentative bacteria. Mixed cultures have been little described. This work aims to enrich a stable association of fermenters and PNSB on a carbohydrate-rich wastewater in a single-step process with a mixed culture. Batches with glucose and acetate at different concentrations were inoculated with an in-house mixed-culture. A chemostat was continuously supplied with glucose (5 g COD L-1) and run at a dilution rate of 0.05 h-1 after start-up under batch mode and baseline stabilization of the PNSB enrichment with acetate. The reactor was constantly illuminated with a light filtered at wavelengths superior to 700 nm. Biomass, pigments expression and substrate depletion were tracked along the experiment. A model was developed to anticipate the biomass growth and the substrates consumption. In the batches fed with acetate, PNSB were dominant in purple biomass (>80% vs. total sequencing read count). The main PNSB population were Rhodopseudomonas and Rhodobacter. With glucose, the biomass turned white. The fermenter Enterobacter dominated the microbiomes (>95% abundance). In the stirred-tank reactor, batch operation with acetate led to the production of a substantial biomass enriched in PNSB (4.0 g VSS L-1) that assimilated the nutrients in a molar C-N-P ratio of 100:9.5:0.1 (- n/n/n). Under chemostat regime with glucose, PNSB were efficiently associated with fermenters in a biomass of 1.0-1.5 g VSS L-1. Phase-contrast microscopy displayed the typical morphotypes of Rhodopseudomonas and the fermenter Clostridium. The glucose was completely depleted. The main fermentation products were acetate (between 3 and 10 mmol L-1), ethanol (between 6 and 9 mmol L-1) and butyrate (between 2 and 4 mmol L-1). The hydrogen yield was low (0.033±0.012 mol H2 mol-1 glucose). A fermenters-PNSB mixed culture was successfully built by microbial community engineering by harnessing the chemostat regime to establish the ecological niches and interactions of these organisms. It provides an excellent opportunity to clean carbohydrate-rich wastewater in a compact single-stage process. In the case of direct application of PNSB, a concentrated biomass can be produced. The biomass can even find interesting applications for resource recovery in the form of, e.g., a protein-rich fertilizing biomass (on food and agricultural aqueous wastes), biogas, bulk chemicals and biopolymers.

2019

Wastewater and green waste biorefinery Degradation of simple sugars using mixed cultures of purple non-sulfur bacteria: an insight into microbial interactions

Guillaume Crosset-Perrotin

2019