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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Molecular and thermal diffusion coefficients of alkane-alkane and alkane-aromatic binary mixtures: effect of shape
Alana Leahy-Dios1, Abbas Firoozabadi
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Mason Lab, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8286, USA.
Abstract:
New molecular and thermal diffusion coefficients of binary mixtures of normal decane-normal alkanes and methylnaphthalene-normal alkanes are measured at atmospheric pressure and T = 25 degrees C. The normal alkanes used in this work include nC5-nC20. Thermal diffusion coefficients were measured in a thermogravitational column. Molecular diffusion coefficients were measured using an open-ended capillary tube technique. Results show a significant effect of molecular shape and size on thermal and molecular diffusion coefficients. Molecular diffusion coefficients show a monotonic behavior in both aromatic-normal alkane and normal decane-normal alkane mixtures. Thermal diffusion coefficients reveal a nonmonotonic trend with molecular size in the normal decane-normal alkane mixtures. This is the first report of the nonmonotonic behavior in the literature. The data presented in this paper provide an accurate self-molecular diffusion coefficient for nC10 from binary data.
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