The objective of this work is to show the results of the in situ transesterification of sunflower seed oil with methanol on basic homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis for the production of biodiesel. In homogeneous catalysis, the activity of KOH and K2CO3 were evaluated using the same oil:methanol ratio of 1:90. KOH showed to be more active than K2CO3, leading to total conversion in biodiesel after 1h reaction time. In the heterogeneous catalysis the activity of K2CO3/Al2O3 was comparable to the activity of K2CO3 bulk: 53.0 and 66.6% resp. The properties of samples of biodiesel produced by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis were evaluated and are in accordance with the recommended fuel properties.

Foram investigados os efeitos de ácido indol acético (11,42 µmol L-1) e benzilaminopurina (8,87 µmol L-1) sobre o crescimento e composição do óleo essencial de plantas in vitro de Melissa officinalis. Plantas desenvolvidas em meio de Murashige e Skoog (MS) apresentaram o incremento de 1,4 vezes na proporção de nerol e de 4,1vezes de geraniol, quando comparadas às plantas ex vitro. Tratamentos com 11,42 µmol L-1 de ácido indol acético mais 8,87 µmol L-1 de benzilaminopurina resultaram em aumentos de 1,7 e 2,2 vezes na proporção de nerol e geraniol, respectivamente, em plantas de 60 dias. Estes aumentos podem estar associados à ação dos reguladores de crescimento, por estimularem o desenvolvimento vegetal (na organogênese e alongamento de brotos) e retardarem a oxidação de álcoois em aldeídos.

It was investigated the effects of indole-3-acetic acid (11.42 µmol L-1), benzylaminopurine (8.87 µmol L-1) on essential oil composition and on the growth of Melissa officinalis in vitro plants. In vitro plantlets developed on MS media, showed 1.4 times in the proportion of nerol and 4.1 of geraniol, when compared with ex vitro plants. Treatments with 11.42 µmol L-1 indole-3-acetic acid plus 8.87 µmol L-1 benzylaminopurine led to 1.7 and 2.2 fold in proportion of nerol and geraniol, respectively in 60-day-old whole plants. These increases might be associated with the action of growth regulators wich stimulate plant growth (shoot organogenesis and elongation) and delaying the alcohol oxidation to aldehydes.

In this paper, the atom economy concepts are applied in a series of experiments during an experimental organic chemistry class, to implement "green chemistry" in an undergraduate course.

This review aims to present some features about solid state NMR and its application in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry, for the characterization of polymorphism of pharmaceutical molecules.