Environment-friendly Method Research Articles

Visible Light Mediated Chemoselective Hydroxylation of Benzylic Methylenes.

We have developed a metal-free photocatalytic selective hydroxylation of benzylic methylenes to secondary alcohols. This approach utilizes low-cost eosin Y as photocatalyst, O2 as green oxidant, and inexpensive triethylamine as inhibitor for overoxidation. The mild reaction conditions enable the production of secondary alcohols with 56-95% yields, making it a promising and environmental-friendly method for the synthesis of secondary alcohols from benzylic methylenes.

Recent Advances in Hydrogenation of CO2 to CO with Heterogeneous Catalysts Through the RWGS Reaction.

With the continuous increase in CO2 emissions, primarily from the combustion of coal and oil, the ecosystem faces a significant threat. Therefore, as an effective method to minimize the issue, the Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) reaction which converts CO2 towards CO attracts much attention, is an environmentally-friendly method to mitigate climate change and lessen dependence on fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the inherent thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness of CO2 is a big challenge under mild conditions. In addition, it remains another fundamental challenge in RWGS reaction owing to CO selectivity issue caused by CO2 further hydrogenation towards CH4 . Up till now, a series of catalysis systems have been developed for CO2 reduction reaction to produce CO. Herein, the research progress of the well-performed heterogeneous catalysts for the RWGS reaction were summarized, including the catalyst design, catalytic performance and reaction mechanism. This review will provide insights into efficient utilization of CO2 and promote the development of RWGS reaction.

Attenuation of Zucchini mosaic virus disease in cucumber plants by mycorrhizal symbiosis

Key messageArbuscular mycorrhizal fungi generated systemic acquired resistance in cucumber to Zucchini yellow mosaic virus, indicating their prospective application in the soil as a sustainable, environmentally friendly approach to inhibit the spread of pathogens.The wide spread of plant pathogens affects the whole world, causing several plant diseases and threatening national food security as it disrupts the quantity and quality of economically important crops. Recently, environmentally acceptable mitigating practices have been required for sustainable agriculture, restricting the use of chemical fertilizers in agricultural areas. Herein, the biological control of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plants using arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi was investigated. Compared to control plants, ZYMV-infected plants displayed high disease incidence (DI) and severity (DS) with various symptoms, including severe yellow mosaic, mottling and green blisters of leaves. However, AM fungal inoculation exhibited 50% inhibition for these symptoms and limited DS to 26% as compared to non-colonized ones. The detection of ZYMV by the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay technique exhibited a significant reduction in AM-inoculated plants (5.23-fold) compared with non-colonized ones. Besides, mycorrhizal root colonization (F%) was slightly reduced by ZYMV infection. ZYMV infection decreased all growth parameters and pigment fractions and increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, however, these parameters were significantly enhanced and the MDA content was decreased by AM fungal colonization. Also, the protein, proline and antioxidant enzymes (POX and CAT) were increased with ZYMV infection with more enhancements due to AM root colonization. Remarkably, defence pathogenesis-related (PR) genes such as PR-a, PR-b, and PR-10 were quickly expressed in response to AM treatment. Our findings demonstrated the beneficial function of AM fungi in triggering the plant defence against ZYMV as they caused systemic acquired resistance in cucumber plants and supported their potential use in the soil as an environment-friendly method of hindering the spread of pathogenic microorganisms sustainably.

Modelling and optimization of Li+ extraction from brine with high Mg/Li ratio by electrochemically switched ion exchange considering thermodynamics and dynamics simultaneously

Electrochemically switched ion exchange (ESIX) technology has been proven to be an efficient and environmental-friendly method for extracting Li+ from brine lakes. To deeply understand and mathematically express the underlying physical process of Li+ extraction in ESIX, a model is developed to describe Li+ extraction from brine lakes with a high Mg/Li mass ratio (500:1) by ESIX with an electrode coated with λ-MnO2 film. The kinetics and thermodynamics of the Li+ extraction process is considered simultaneously by coupling the Frumkin-Bulter-Volmer theory modified by electroactive site concentration with a modified Gouy-Chapman-Stern model. The local sensitivity analysis indicates that the performance of ESIX in Li+ adsorption is greatly influenced by cell voltage, film mass, and Stern capacitance of carbon black film, whereas these parameters have little effect on Mg2+ adsorption. The individual parameter analysis elucidates that the mass and Stern capacitance of carbon black film can regulate the potential drop distributions in different regions of ESIX system, resulting in a maximum Li+ extraction efficiency of 90.22 % due to the increased driving force in the faradic reaction and reduced charge transfer resistance. The optimization of combined parameters indicates that the optimum operation can be achieved at the conditions with a cell voltage ranging between 1.0 and 1.2 V, a Stern layer capacitance with electric double layer volume for carbon black film of 5.4 × 107 F/L, and an initial Li+ content of the treatment solution: carbon black film: λ-MnO2 film mass ratio of 0.1 kg: 9 kg: 8 kg.

Enzymatic Modification of Starch: A Review

Starch is the most abundant naturally occurring carbohydrate reserve in plants and is found in cereals, roots, tubers, legumes and some immature fruits like bananas or mangos. Starch is usually employed as a food additive, such as a thickening, stabilizer, or texture enhancer to improve some of the products quality characteristics, pharmaceutical and among other. The application of native starch is often restricted owing to its constricted solubility, weak functional attributes and limited tolerance to a wide array of processing conditions. Its low resistance to shear, high retrogradation, and poor freeze-thaw stability, limit the use of starch in industrial applications. These natural shortcomings can be overcome by different methods of modification. In recent decades, enzymatic modifications have been adopted, partly replacing the chemical and physical methods for the preparation of modified starch, as enzymes are safer and healthier than chemical method for both the environment and food consumers. Several enzymes viz., alfa-amylase, beta-amylase, glucose isomerase, pullulanase, xylanase, among others are use in modification of starch. The enzymatic modification of starch molecules directly affected properties of the modified starch especially in freeze-thaw stability of gels and retardation of retrogradation during storage. Combined enzymatic modification resulted in a marked increase in resistant starch and enzyme modified starch can be well utilized as a fat replacer. It is environment-friendly method and can provide desired functional characteristics.

Crude oil biodegradation potential of lipase produced by Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil

Microbial biodegradation of oil pollutants and their derivatives has become the most environmental-friendly method in the developing world. The aim of this study was to evaluate crude oil biodegradation potential of lipase produced by indigenous bacteria from oil contaminated soil. Indigenous bacteria isolates were identified as species of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the isolates were able to produce lipase as revealed in their zone of clearance on tween 80 agar plates and the presence of lipase produced by the two bacteria were further confirmed using spectrophotometric analyses. Lipase produced by B. subtilis showed maximal lipase activity at pH 8 and 40°C while the enzyme produced by P. aeruginosa showed maximal lipase activity (U/mL) at pH 8 and 50°C when subjected to various pH and temperature respectively. Lipase produced by B. subtilis recorded 8.11 ± 0.70% of crude oil degradation in mineral salt medium within 28 days, while that of P. aeruginosa recorded 15.6 ± 0.03% of crude oil biodegradation. The GC–MS analysis of the crude oil treatment showed complete mineralization of several compounds, and also showed peak reduction which indicates lipase efficiency in the degradation of hydrocarbons. As revealed by GC–MS analysis, out of the 8 hydrocarbons identified in an undegraded oil, 5 were completely degraded by the enzyme activities while 2 (toluene and methyl, cyclopentane) were identified with hydrocarbons treated with lipase. The enzymes produced by B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa can serve as useful product for bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil.

Supramolecular Solvent-Based Vortex-Assisted Hollow Fibre Liquid-Phase Microextraction Technique Combined With High Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Estrogens in Milk Samples

A fast, simple, environmental friendly and strong sample clean-up ability method for the determination of three estrogens (17β-estradiol (17β-E2), estrone (E1), and diethylstilbestrol (DES)) in milk samples has been developed by using supramolecular solvent-based vortex-assisted hollow fibre liquid-phase microextraction (SS-VA-HF-LPME) and high performance liquid chromatography. Method is based on estrogens was extracted from aqueous samples into a supramolecular solvent which were made up of n-octanol and ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM] BF4) impregnated in the wall pores and also filled inside the porous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane followed by vortex-mixing. The supramolecular solvent has better compatibility with the polarity of target analytes and the driving forces for the extraction include hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and π-cation interactions between the analytes and the vesicular aggregates, thereby leading to high recoveries. Vortex can provide mild and effective mixing of sample solution and increase the contact between analytes and boundary layers of the hollow fibre. Therefore the mass transfer rate was enhanced. The parameters that affect the recoveries were studied and optimized. HF of 4 cm length was used and the pH 4.0 was employed. The percentages of n-octanol and [BMIM]BF4 were 10% and 3%, respectively. The extraction equilibrium time was 4 min. The method provided good linearity (andgt;0.998), repeatability (RSD% = 1.24–4.36), low detection limit (0.10–0.22 ng mL−1), and high enrichment factor (330).

Development of micro-texture patterns of cemented carbide cutting tools to improve cutting performance

Micro texture on cutting tool inserts obtained via laser micro-machining has recently emerged as an environment friendly method to reduce adhesion on the tool’s rake face and to improve friction conditions during machining. However, these benefits are strictly correlated with a correct design and behavior of the texture to be replicated on the tool surface. This paper reports an experimental study of developing an array of dimples on both rake and flank of commercial, cemented carbide cutting inserts using a picosecond laser source. Experiments of orthogonal dry cutting on E235 steel tubes were performed using textured and untextured tools to evaluate the improvements obtained. The improvements achieved were assessed in terms of cutting force and their impact on cutting performances. A predictive finite element model was developed to optimize the design of the dimples, to be replicated onto the rake surface of the tool.

Effect of ultrasonic embossing and welding time on the joint performance of ultrasonically welded short carbon fiber reinforced PEEK

Ultrasonic plastic welding (UPW) is a highly efficient and environmental friendly method that has gained gradually increased attention in joining carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP). A crucial aspect in UPW of CFRTP is the design of the energy director (ED). This paper employs ultrasonic embossing, a cost-effective way to manufacture ED on the surface of CFRTP sheets. The effect of ultrasonic embossing time and welding time on the joint performance is investigated in terms of microstructure, tensile-shear property, and fracture surface morphology. The results show that the structured surface made by ultrasonic embossing can be used as ED to concentrate welding energy. This process reduces the randomness and dispersion of weld distribution, improves the failure load of welded joints by 30 % compared with the joints made without using ED. The ultrasonic embossing time has a limited influence on the joint failure load. Sound welded joints can be obtained when welding with one structured surface and welding time of 1.5 s.

Titania nanoengineering towards efficient plasmonic photocatalysis: Mono- and bi-metal-modified mesoporous microballs built of faceted anatase

Preparation of porous micro-sized materials with solar response is urgent for fast commercialization of green technologies based on semiconductor photocatalysis. Here, mesoporous titania microballs composed of nanocrystalline anatase with exposed facets were prepared by a sub-zero sol-gel method followed by hydrothermal/alcohothermal crystallization. The mechanism of microballs formation and the influence of preparation conditions on the properties, and thus resultant photocatalytic activity, were investigated in detail. The photocatalytic performance was examined in four reaction systems under UV/vis irradiation, i.e., oxidative decomposition of methyl orange (MO) dye, hydrogen evolution, degradation of tetracycline (TC) antibiotic, and carbon dioxide reduction. Moreover, hydrogen generation was also examined under visible-light (vis) irradiation. Amorphous and faceted (octahedral- and decahedral-based) microballs were additionally modified with nanoparticles (NPs) of noble metals (Pt, Au, Ag, Pt/Au, Pt/Ag) for both UV-activity enhancement and vis response (i.e., plasmonic photocatalysis). It has been found that nano-architecture of microballs might be controlled by the ratio of alcohol to water used during hydrothermal/alcohothermal treatment. Accordingly, highly active microballs composed of pure octahedral- or decahedral-shaped anatase crystals, i.e., with {101} facets only (bipyramids) or eight {101} and two {001} facets, respectively, could be synthesized by a facile and environmental-friendly method. The versatility and high activity of faceted microballs have been confirmed in both oxidation and reduction reactions under UV and/or vis irradiation (comparable performance to that by famous P25). Decahedral-based samples exhibit usually higher photocatalytic activity than octahedral ones, despite worse photoelectronic properties (charge carriers’ separation, electron transport capacity and photocurrent density), due to higher hydrophilicity. However, single type {101} facet photocatalyst (octahedral shape) is preferable for efficient CO2 adsorption and reduction into CO and CH4. Among noble metals, though platinum shows much higher positive effect on UV activity, gold is responsible for the highest activity under vis, which corresponds to the strongest plasmonic filed enhancement, as proven by finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. Concluding, micro-sized balls composed of faceted anatase are undoubtedly prospective photocatalyst for diverse environmental applications.

(Invited) the Removal of Bisphenols from Wastewaters with Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Bisphenols represent one of the most recognised harmful contaminants found in environment as a result of their extensive use for the industrial production of polycarbonate, epoxy resins, and thermal paper. They are known for their ability to act as endocrine disruptors, as well as for their potential to cause genotoxicity and cytotoxicity. 1. Although the awareness of their toxicity is high and the use of some of their representatives already limited or restricted in EU 2, they still represent a potential threat for public health. Due to their insufficient elimination with standard water treatment methods, the effluent from the wastewater treatment plants continues to be the major source of bisphenol environmental contamination. Thus, it is necessary to develop a new more efficient method.Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) is a promising technology with tremendous potential in removal of various hazardous contaminants from wastewater 3. Essentially, plasma is the fourth state of matter, created by introducing gas into a strong electrical field resulting in ionisation, dissociation, and excitation of gaseous molecules. CAP, which is produced by using air and electricity, is a source of high concentration of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). This property makes it a highly promising, cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly method for decontamination 4.To demonstrate its potential, we investigated the application of air CAP for the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) from aqueous systems. Plasma was generated with surface barrier discharge systems, using different exposure times and discharge operating powers, which led to the formation of different plasma chemistries. Additionally, radical scavenger methanol was used to simulate environmental conditions. The highest degradation efficacies were observed at longest exposure time (480 s) and at high discharge power and was significantly affected by the presence of methanol. Moreover, radical scavenger influenced the formation of CAP generated RONS in liquid as well, resulting in lower concentrations of ˙OH, H2O2, and NO2 -. With non-target approach, we were able to identify 11 BPA and 5 BPS transformation products (TPs) and propose transformation pathways of both compounds. The toxicological examination performed with in vitro HepG2 cell model demonstrated that the mixture of transformation products formed during CAP treatment is less toxic than BPA and BPS. According to these results it was suggested that CAP is an effective and safe method for degradation of bisphenols. The European Parliament and the Council. Regulation (EU) 2020. Official Journal of the European Union.2018/840/EC. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/840 of 5 June 2018 Establishing a Watch List of Substances for Union-Wide Monitoring in the Field of Water Policy. J. Eur. Union 2018, L 141 (March 2015), 9–12.Sanito, R. C.; You, S. J.; Wang, Y. F. Degradation of Contaminants in Plasma Technology: An Overview. Hazard. Mater. 2022, 424 (PA), 127390.Dickenson A.; Morabit Y.; Hasan M. I.; Walsh J. L. Directional mass transport in an atmospheric pressure surface barrier discharge. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 14003.

An overview on the hazards and handling methods of construction and demolition wastes: Special focus on recycled concrete aggregates

With the demand increased in construction activities within the last century, several scientific research studies have been focusing on different aspects of construction and demolishing wastes, while considering the severity of environmental problems that they cause. This work presents the results of out an extensive literature survey in order to provide an overview on the hazards and handling methods of construction and demolishing wastes. Results of this literature review indicate that landfilling has been the most commonly used method, even though the recycling of the construction and demolishing wastes was found out to be the most environmentally-friendly solution. It was observed that groundwater and soil may be heavily affected by the leaching constituents of landfilled construction wastes. On the other hand, using these wastes in the form of recycled concrete aggregates was observed to eliminate these hazards. The results of literature survey pointed out that the use of demolished concrete wastes as recycled concrete aggregates could be widely adopted by construction sector only if the resulting concrete is of satisfactory quality. Hence, information on different quality aspects of concrete made of recycled concrete aggregates are presented systematically as a clear guide in this work, to verify its feasibility as an environment-friendly waste elimination method.

The Extraction of Oxalate Acid from Porang Flour (Amorphophallus oncophyllus) using Microwave-Assisted Solvent Extraction

Porang (Amorphophallus oncophyllus) is one of the local annual plants that contain high levels of oxalate. Oxalates are undesirable compounds in porang flour, and their levels must be removed or reduced to obtain high quality porang flour as a food ingredient. In this research, the extraction of oxalate acid was conducted using microwave-assisted solvent extraction and mechanical separation methods. This study aims to analysis the parameters that influence the extraction of oxalate acid using microwave-assisted solvent extraction such as the effect of microwave power, extraction time, feed-to-solvent ratio (F/S) and material size. The mechanical separation process will be studied the effect of material size for extraction of oxalate acid. The optimum yield obtained for oxalate acid extraction with microwave-assisted solvent extraction was microwave power of 600 W, extraction time of 30 min, feed-to-solvent ratio of 0.05 g/mL and porang size of 100 mesh obtained by oxalate acid yield of 24.78%. Porang size of 100 mesh was the optimum yield obtained for extraction of oxalate acid using mechanical separation method. The result of physical properties test using SEM-EDX and FTIR shows that extraction of oxalate acid from porang using microwave extraction method could produce oxalic acid which has good quality. In addition, extraction using microwave offers an environment-friendly extraction method, which can accelerate and increase the oxalate acid extraction yield.

Bisulfite boosts the reduction activity of zero-valent iron towards p-nitrophenol under anoxic conditions

Zero-valent iron (ZVI) is widely used in the field of wastewater treatment and groundwater remediation, but it suffers from low reactivity due to the surface passivation layer. In the present work, bisulfite was used as an additive to enhance the reduction activity of ZVI under anoxic conditions. It was found that the reaction kinetic constant of p-nitrophenol reduction in ZVI/bisulfite process was approximately 132 times higher than that by ZVI alone. Bisulfite could dissolve and reduce some iron oxide on the ZVI surface, resulting in the exposure of more active sites like Fe0 and Fe(II) for p-nitrophenol reduction through direct electron transfer. Common substances in water had no effects on p-nitrophenol degradation by ZVI/bisulfite process, but phosphate suppressed ZVI corrosion seriously. This work provides a simple, cost-effective and environmental-friendly method to improve the reducing activity of ZVI under anoxic conditions.

Production of flower‐shaped nanobiocatalysts from green tea and investigation of their peroxidase mimicking activity on the polymerization of phenol derivatives

AbstractEnzyme catalyzed reactions are known to be environmental friendly and easy method for many applications. However, utilization of enzymes in a variety of reactions is strictly limited due to their high cost, instability in aqueous solutions, denaturation in organic solvents and high temperatures. For this reason, it is important to discover new generation catalyst systems indicating enzyme‐like catalytic activity. Here, we report hybrid organic–inorganic flower‐shaped green tea‐Cu2+ nanobiocatalyst synthesized from green tea extract as an organic component and copper (II) ions (Cu2+) as inorganic component. The effect of the peroxidase‐mimicking activity of green tea‐Cu2+ nanobiocatalyst was investigated on the polymerization of phenol and derivatives (guaiacol and salicylic acid) through Fenton‐like reaction mechanism. Obtained successful outcomes showed that the synthesized nanobiocatalyst showed very high catalytic activity upon polymerization of phenol and guaiacol. The slight solubility of salicylic acid in water limited to achieve its polymerization under‐performed reaction conditions. The yields and molecular weights of the obtained polymers were found to be quite high. While free peroxidase enzymes like horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme loses its catalytic activity at 60°C and above temperatures, green tea‐Cu2+ nanobiocatalyst exhibited very high catalytic activity upon polymerization reactions even at 60°C reaction temperature. This outcome provides significant advantages in some reactions requiring high temperatures. In order to understand the origin of the catalytic activity of the green tea‐Cu2+ nanoflowers, similar biocatalysts were also synthesized from caffeine and catechin alkaloids which are the active components of green tea. Caffeine‐Cu2+ and catechine‐Cu2+ nanobiocatalysts also exhibited quite high catalytic activity toward polymerization of phenol and derivatives. We suggest that green tea‐Cu2+ and similar types of nanobiocatalysts may expand their utilization in polymer chemistry as promising catalytic agents for radicalic polymerizations.

Reducing the mass and decreasing the bioavailability of heavy mental from organic wastes treated by black soldier fly larvae

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), Hermetia illucens L., are widely used to reduce the mass of various wastes. However, the potential metal tolerance mechanisms during periods of waste bioconversion by BSFL remain largely unknown. To further reveal the mechanisms, BSFL were used to treat the agricultural organic wastes, including pig manure (PM), cow manure (COM), spent mushroom substrate (SMS), and wet distiller grains (WDG). After these individual and combined waste(s) were treated by BSFL, we investigated the waste reduction rates and evaluated the responses of BSFL gut microbes to heavy metals of agricultural organic wastes. Additionally, the colloidal particles of residual wastes were characterized by combing energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, Size potential, Zeta potential, and excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy. Results indicated that the waste reduction rates were up to 74% in COM+WDG and 69% in WDG, most of heavy metals (e.g., Zn and Co) from organic wastes were not accumulated in the bodies of mature larvae after treatment. Further, results obtained from the prediction of gene function on the basis of 16 S rRNA data revealed that the presence of multi-resistance genes in the gut of BSFL can help the larvae resist Zn and/or Co stress. In addition, the drug sensitivity test implied that BSFL5_L and BSFL6_L from BSFL gut bacterial strains have multi-resistance to Co and Zn. Additionally, EDX results revealed that the colloidal particles in five waste residues after BSFL treatment are mainly consisted of Fe, Ca and Si, which can capture heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Mn). Results from EEM spectroscopy and PARAFAC showed that tryptophan-like and humic-like accumulatively account for 56%− 68% of all components. Importantly, these two components could strongly bind the metal elements and form colloidal particles with high stability, and therefore reduce the heavy metal pollution of agricultural organic wastes. Our findings offered an environment-friendly method to treat agricultural organic wastes, which would be far-reaching influence to our environment.

Construction and Characterization of Fitting Equations for a New Wheat Straw Pulping Method.

The pretreatment of pulp with enzymes has been extensively studied in the laboratory. However, due to cost constraints, the application of enzymes in the pulp and paper industry is very limited. In this paper, an environment-friendly and efficient pulping method is proposed as an alternative to traditional pulping and papermaking methods. This new method overcomes the low efficiency and extreme pollution problems associated with traditional pulping methods. In addition, fitting equations for the new pulping method are constructed using data on enzyme treatments, which reflect the effect of enzymes and enable the realization of real-time control of the pulping process. The experimental results show that the efficiency of the pulping and papermaking process can be improved using biological enzymes, and the separation of cellulose can be facilitated using mixed enzymes, which have a better effect than single enzymes.

Water-stable hydrophilic metal organic framework composite for the recognition of N-glycopeptides during diabetes progression by mass spectrometry.

A hydrophilic Al-MOFs composite was prepared using cheap and available reagents in water via a suitable large-scale production, an economical and environment-friendly method for capturing N-glycopeptides. Theprepared Al-MOFs composite with high hydrolytically stable and hydrophilic 1D channels exhibits an ultralow detection limit (0.5 fmol/μL), and excellent reusability (at least 10 cycles) in the capture of N-glycopeptides from standard bio-samples. Interestingly, the Al-MOFs composite also shows remarkable performance in practical applications, where 300 N-glycopeptides ascribed to 124 glycoproteins were identified in 1 µL human serum and were successfully applied in profiling the differences of N-glycopeptides during diabetes progression. Moreover, 12 specific glycoproteins used as biomarkers to accurately distinguish the progression of diabetes are identified. The presentwork provides a potential commercial method for large-scale glycoproteomics research in complex clinical samples while offering new guidance for the precise diagnosis of diabetes progression.

Simultaneous chelated heavy metals removal and sludge recovery through titanium coagulation: From waste to resource

Green methods for chelated heavy metals treatment and recovery are essential for coordinated development of resources and environment. Herein, a simple and competent method, titanium salt (TiCl4) coagulation was developed to remove and recycle chelated heavy metals. Our results revealed that this method proved to be effective for metals-citrate [Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cr(VI)], achieving removal efficiencies of 95 %, 92 %, 99 %, and 99 % within 30 min, surpassing direct alkaline precipitation and well-used Fe(III) coagulation. Whereafter, the copper-containing sludge was successfully transformed into copper-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts by facile calcination. Through comprehensively investigating physicochemical properties by a suite of characterization techniques, we confirmed that doping of Cu induced bandgap narrowing, high specific surface area as well as the formation of oxygen vacancy. Accordingly, the recycling photocatalysts showed remarkable enhanced photocatalytic performance than the pristine TiO2, achieving improvement in the degradation efficiency of 82 %, 61 % and 67 % for carbamazepine(CBZ), bisphenol A (BPA) and methyl orange (MO). In addition, both radical (OH and O2−) and non-radical (1O2 and h+) pathways synergistically contributed to the removal of organic pollutants during photocatalysis. Ultimately, based on economic feasibility assessment and life cycle assessment (LCA), the copper-containing titanium coagulation sludge reuse for photocatalyst could bring lower carbon emissions, reduced environmental risks and higher economic benefits. The elucidation of this study provides new insights into the removal and recycle of chelated heavy metals from wastewater by using an environment-friendly and cost-effective method.

Kilogram-Scale Synthesis of Extremely Small Gadolinium Oxide Nanoparticles as a T1-Weighted Contrast Agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents are frequently used in clinics to enhance the contrast between diseased and normal tissues. The previously reported poly(acrylic acid) stabilized exceedingly small gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (ES-GdON-PAA) overcame the problems of commercial Gd chelates, but limitations still exist, i.e., high r2/r1 ratio, long blood circulation half-life, and no data for large scale synthesis and formulation optimization. In this study, polymaleic acid (PMA) is found to be an ideal stabilizer to synthesize ES-GdONs. Compared with ES-GdON-PAA, the PMA-stabilized ES-GdON (ES-GdON-PMA) has a lower r2/r1 ratio (2.05, 7.0 T) and a lower blood circulation half-life (37.51min). The optimized ES-GdON-PMA-9 has an exceedingly small particle size (2.1nm), excellent water dispersibility, and stability. A facile, efficient, and environmental friendly synthetic method is developed for large-scale synthesis of the ES-GdONs-PMA. The weight of the optimized freeze-dried ES-GdON-PMA-26 synthesized in a 20L of reactor reaches the kilogram level. The formulation optimization is also finished, and the concentrated ES-GdON-PMA-26 formulation (CGd=100mm) after high-pressure steam sterilization possesses eligible physicochemical properties (i.e., pH value, osmolality, viscosity, and density) for investigational new drug application.