Abstract
Of great concern are the residual antibiotics from dirt that can be found in farm soil and wastewater. This kind of emerging pollutant into engineered nanomaterials is riveting. This work proposes the elimination and transformation of a beta-lactam antibiotic, oxacillin, from environmental waste to graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Two protocols were followed in which the use of ethylenediamine (EDA) in the transformation leads to GQDs with excellent optical properties. Therefore, two types of GQDs were synthesized in a Teflon-lined stainless autoclave by a thermal procedure using oxacillin in the absence and presence of EDA. The ensuing e-GQDs from oxacillin and EDA display a stronger fluorescence emission in comparison to those synthesized without EDA (o-GQDs). The combination of Kaiser test analyses, infrared (IR) and Raman measurements revealed the presence of oxygen-containing groups and primary amines at the edges of the graphitic nanolayer for e-GQDs. This straightforward strategy brings hope and opens a new interest in waste recycling by means of extracting residual contaminants from the environment for their further transformation into adequate non-toxic graphitic nanomaterials with potential applications.
Highlights
Non-biodegradable anthropogenic organic molecules are uncontrolled discharged at low concentrations in industrial streams, without preventing them from entering the environment and interacting with living organisms
Oxacillin is a second-generation penicillin-resistant beta-lactam antibiotic [1] employed for treating bacterial infections in human medicine and for preventing diseases in domestic animals
We pursued the extraction of oxacillin from water samples following a solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure
Summary
Non-biodegradable anthropogenic organic molecules are uncontrolled discharged at low concentrations in industrial streams, without preventing them from entering the environment and interacting with living organisms. Of great concern are many pharmaceutical compounds which are characterized for being noxious and resistant to microbial degradation. Such pollutants can be accumulated over long periods of time in soils and natural waters, causing resistance in diverse bacterial populations and posing a serious challenge and a threat to the ecosystem and global health. Oxacillin is a second-generation penicillin-resistant beta-lactam antibiotic [1] employed for treating bacterial infections in human medicine and for preventing diseases in domestic animals. A large consumption of this type of antibiotic and its unmodified excretion via urination/feces into the sewage system produced a mass-residual contamination which is responsible for newly more-resistant bacterial strains
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