Recent developments in the adsorptive removal of heavy metal ions using metal-organic frameworks and graphene-based adsorbents

Clean and potable water is a growing concern around the globe. Among the different water pollutants, heavy metal ions pose a serious health concern to all living beings. The quest for new adsorbents to remove heavy metal ions received a boost with the development in the field of metal-organic framework (MOF). The advancement in synthetic strategies and designing of MOF enabled the researchers to tune the adsorption characteristics and tailor the material specific to a heavy metal ion. Similar to MOF, graphene-based two-dimensional and three-dimensional materials are also promising due to the diverse functionalization possibilities and cost-effectiveness. There had been growing interest in applying MOF and graphene-based materials for the removal of heavy metal ions in the past decade. This review summarizes these developments in detail.     

Selective Extraction of Metal Ions from Aqueous Phase to Ionic Liquids: A Novel Thermodynamic Approach to Separations

The selective extraction of metals from aqueous mixtures has generally relied on the use of selective ionophores. We present an alternative strategy that exploits a recently developed approach to extraction into an ionic liquid phase, and show that a high degree of control over selectivity can be obtained by tuning the relative concentrations of extraction agents. A thermodynamic model for the approach is presented, and an experimental separation of strontium and potassium ions is performed. It is shown that tuning the concentrations of the species involved can shift the ratio of potassium to strontium in the ionic liquid phase from 4:1 to 3:4. This extraction is performed under mild conditions with relatively common reagents. The result is a proof‐of‐concept for a novel separations scheme that could have great importance in a wide range of technological applications.     

Enhancement of the catalytic performances and lifetime of Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts for the steam toluene reforming via the combination of dopants: inspection of Cu,Co, Fe,Mn, and Mo species addition

In this work, the influence of metallic dopant addition in 10 wt % Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst on the material physico-chemical properties and catalytic activity for the toluene steam reforming was studied. Seventeen doped Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts were synthesized by the sol–gel process. The aim of this study was to determine which elements were the most suitable for the doping of 10 wt % Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts. The influence of the dopants was studied through different physico-chemical techniques. It appeared that some dopants showed lower catalytic performances due to high carbon deactivation. On the contrary, some dopants increased the resistance to coking while also improving the catalytic activity. Different mechanisms were proposed to explain these modifications of catalytic behavior. Among all doped Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts, the samples that combined Mn + Mo or Co + Mo dopants showed the best catalytic performances at 650 °C. Both samples showed high toluene reforming activity and low amounts of carbon deposit.     

Evaluation of hydrophobic‐interaction chromatography resins for purification of antibody‐drug conjugates using a mimetic model with adjustable hydrophobicity

Antibody drug conjugates are cytotoxic pharmaceuticals, designed to destroy malignant cells. A cytotoxic molecule is attached to an antibody that binds specific to a cancer‐cell surface. Given the high toxicity of the drugs, strict safety standards have to be kept. For this reason, an antibody drug conjugates model was developed with fluorescein 5‐isothiocyanate as the nontoxic payload surrogate. Due to the similar hydrophobicity, this model is used to establish a suitable purification process and characterization method for antibody drug conjugates. Because of the pH dependent solubility of fluorescein, the hydrophobicity of conjugates can be modulated by the pH value. Based on the complex heterogeneity and hydrophobicity of the conjugates a chromatographic purification is challenging. Hydrophobic interaction chromatography is used for analytical as well as for preparative separation. Because of the increased hydrophobicity of the conjugates compared to native antibody, hydrophobic interaction chromatography often suffer from resolution and recovery problems. Conjugates were separated differing on the number of payloads attached to the antibody. For this matter, the drug–antibody ratio is determined and used as a quantitative term. The conjugates are purified at high recoveries and resolution by step gradients using suitable resins, allowing the separation of the target drug–antibody ratio.     

Optimization of l‐arginine purification from Corynebacterium crenatum fermentation broth

l ‐Arginine has many special physiological and biochemical functions, with wide applications in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Few studies on the purification of l ‐arginine from fermentation broth have been conducted; however, none of them were systematic enough for industrial scale‐up. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a highly efficient and systematic process for the purification of l ‐arginine from fermentation broth. In this study, we screened out a cation exchange resin, D155, having high exchange capacity, high selectivity, and easy elution capacity, and analyzed its adsorption isotherm, thermodynamics, and kinetics using different models. Further, the process parameters of fixed‐bed ion exchange adsorption and elution were optimized, and the penetration curve during the operation was modeled. Based on the fixed‐bed ion‐exchange parameters, a 30‐column continuous ion‐exchange system was designed, and the flow velocity in each zone was optimized. Finally, to obtain a high purity of l ‐arginine, the purification tests were conducted using anion exchange resin 711, and an l ‐arginine yield of 99.1% and purity of 98.5% was obtained. This effective and economical method also provides a promising strategy for separation of other amino acids from the fermentation broth, which is of great significance to the l ‐arginine fermentation industry.     

Preparation of supermacroporous cryogels with improved mechanical strength for efficient purification of lysozyme from chicken egg white

A novel, facile, and robust strategy was proposed to increase the pore size and mechanical strength of cryogels. By mixing the monomers of acrylamide and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate as the precursor, a monolithic copolymer cryogel with large interconnected pores and thick pore walls was prepared. Hydrogen bonding between the two monomers contributed to the entanglement and aggregation of the copolymers, thickening the pore walls and resulting in larger pore sizes. Analysis via mercury porosimetry demonstrated that the interconnected pore diameter of the copolymer cryogel ranged from 10‐350 µm, which was far larger than that of the cryogels from one monomer (10‐50 µm). Additionally, the thicker pore walls of the copolymer cryogel improved its mechanical strength. Affinity cryogels were prepared through covalent immobilization using Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane as a coupling agent, and the affinity binding of lysozymes on Tris‐cryogel was evaluated by the Langmuir isothermal adsorption with the maximum adsorption capacity of 360 mg/g. Compared with that of the Tris‐cryogels produced from one monomer, the copolymer Tris‐cryogel exhibited higher adsorption capacity and lysozyme purity, when the chicken egg white solution flowed solely driven by gravity. This work provides a new avenue for designing and developing supermacroporous cryogels for bioseparation.     

Isolation and Purification of Unstable Iridoid Glucosides from Traditional Chinese Medicine by Preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Solid-phase Extraction

An efficient preparative method was successfully developed for isolation and purification of unstable components from medicinal plant extracts, using a combined method of preparative high performance liquid chro-matography(HPLC) and solid-phase extraction(SPE). The aim of this study was to obtain an effective method with high preparative efficiency and importantly to avoid the transformation of unstable compounds. The preparative HPLC system was based on an LC/MS controlled four-channel autopurification sys...     

Physicochemical Properties and Complex Formation Abilities of Large-Ring Cyclodextrins

Large-ring cyclodextrins (LR-CD) are cyclic -1,4-glucanscomposed of nine to more than several hundred glucopyranose units. The firstdefinitive evidence for the existence of LR-CD with a degree of polymerization between 9and 13 was reported in 1965. That LR-CD study did not reveal anything that attracted attention. LR-CD with a degree of polymerization between 9 and 31 were isolated andcharacterized during the past decade, and so began to attract considerable attention. This mini-review summarizes the findings of LR-CD with regard to the potentialfor host-guest interactions and corresponding applications.     

A rapid two-step chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of vitellogenin in fish plasma

By combining anion-exchange membrane purification with high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) analysis, a two-step chromatographic method was developed for the determination of vitellogenin (Vtg) in fish plasma. Most plasma protein interferences can be removed during anion-exchange membrane purification process. Vtg is eluted from the size-exclusion chromatography column with a retention time of about 9 min and is characterized based on the native molecular weight, with a limit of quantification of 20 g Vtg mL^–1 plasma. The spiked recovery and interassay variability were better than 80% and 4.8%. This method was successfully applied to analyze the plasma Vtg levels of loach (Misgurnus angaillicaudatus) and sea catfish (Enchelyopus elongatus). In addition to all the female fish, Vtg is detected in 75% of male loaches and 100% of male sea catfish. The result indicates that some chemicals or unknown factors with estrogenic activity have induced male fish to produce Vtg.     

介孔分子筛Al-MCM-41的合成与催化异构化性能

采用正硅酸乙酯(TEOS)为硅源,九水硝酸铝为铝源,十六烷基三甲基溴化胺(CTMABr)为模板剂,在室温条件下合成了介孔Al-MCM-41分子筛.通过XRD、N2等温吸附、SEM、FTIR等分析测试手段表征了分子筛的介孔结构和表面性质.结果表明所合成的分子筛有良好的介孔结构和较高的有序度,并且有较高的比表面积(达到816 m2·g-1)和窄的孔径分布.采用程序升温的焙烧方式、凝胶Al/Si比最大范围控制在0.06～0.13有利于合成高度有序的介孔Al-MCM-41分子筛.评价结果表明,所合成的Al-MCM-41分子筛对桥式四氢双环戊二烯(endo-TCD)异构化反应合成挂式异构体exo-TCD及金刚烷具有较高的催化活性和极高的选择性.