Sensitive determination of 17β-estradiol in river water using a graphene based electrochemical sensor

In this study, a novel material for the electrochemical determination of 17β-estradiol using an electrode based on reduced graphene oxide and a metal complex porphyrin has been applied to environmental monitoring. The electrochemical profile of the proposed electrode was analyzed by differential pulse voltammetry, which showed a shift of the oxidation peak potential of 17β-estradiol to 150 mV in a less positive direction compared to the bare reduced graphene oxide electrode. DPV experiments were performed in PBS at pH 7.0 to determine 17β-estradiol without any previous step of extraction, cleanup, or derivatization, in the range of 0.1–1.0 μmol L⁻¹ with a detection limit archived at 5.3 nmol L⁻¹ (1.4 μg L⁻¹). The proposed sensor was successfully applied in the determination of 17β-estradiol in a river water sample without any purification step and was successfully analyzed under the standard addition method. All the obtained results were in agreement with those from the HPLC procedure.     

Highly sensitive electrochemical determination of Sunset Yellow based on gold nanoparticles/graphene electrode

An electrochemical sensor was prepared using Au nanoparticles and reduced graphene successfully decorated on the glassy carbon electrode (Au/RGO/GCE) through an electrochemical method which was applied to detect Sunset Yellow (SY). The as-prepared electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electrochemical measurements. The results of cyclic voltammetry (CV) proved that Au/RGO/GCE had the highest catalytic activity for the oxidation of SY as compared with GCE, Au/GCE, and RGO/GCE. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) showed that the linear calibration curves for SY on Au/RGO/GCE in the range of 0.002 μM–109.14 μM, and the detection limit was estimated to be 2 nM (S/N = 3). These results suggested that the obtained Au/RGO/GCE was applied to detect SY with high sensitivity, low detection limit and good stability, which provided a promising future for the development of portable sensor in food additives.     

Determination of refractive and volatile elements in sediment using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Wet-milling protocol was employed to produce pressed powder tablets with excellent cohesion and homogeneity suitable for laser ablation (LA) analysis of volatile and refractive elements in sediment. The influence of sample preparation on analytical performance was also investigated, including sample homogeneity, accuracy and limit of detection. Milling in volatile solvent for 40 min ensured sample is well mixed and could reasonably recover both volatile (Hg) and refractive (Zr) elements. With the exception of Cr (−52%) and Nb (+26%) major, minor and trace elements in STSD-1 and MESS-3 could be analysed within ±20% of the certified values. Comparison of the method with total digestion method using HF was tested by analysing 10 different sediment samples. The laser method recovers significantly higher amounts of analytes such as Ag, Cd, Sn and Sn than the total digestion method making it a more robust method for elements across the periodic table. LA-ICP-MS also eliminates the interferences from chemical reagents as well as the health and safety risks associated with digestion processes. Therefore, it can be considered as an enhanced method for the analysis of heterogeneous matrices such as river sediments.     

南黄海表层沉积物稀土元素分布与物源关系

对南黄海295个表层沉积物样品稀土元素的电感耦合等离子体质谱法分析,结果表明,南黄海表层沉积物稀土元素平均含量为188.39μg.g-1,稀土富集与重矿物有密切关系;稀土元素的球粒陨石配分模式均呈现Eu负异常,模式具负斜率,表明表层沉积物物质主要来源于大陆地壳。从稀土元素地球化学特征的区域变化来看,南黄海东部沉积物来源于朝鲜半岛,西部沉积物来源于黄河和长江物质输入,中部细粒沉积物主要与黄河及长江物质东南、东北扩散有关,东南部为朝鲜半岛及黄河、长江物质共同作用的结果。     

The electrochemical advanced oxidation processes coupling of oxidants for organic pollutants degradation: A mini-review

The electrochemical advanced oxidation processes(EAOPs) have been extensively applied in the treatment of organic pollutants degradation.Herein,the mini review provides the coupling systems about EAOPs and different oxidants(e.g.,persulfate(PS),peroxymonosulfate(PMS),and ozone(O_3)),including EAOPs-PS systems,EAOPs-PMS systems,EAOPs-peroxone systems,and photoelectro-oxidants systems,for the organic compounds degradation.The coupling system of EAOPs with oxidants is an effective way to improve the generated free radicals(e.g.,HO~·and SO_4~(·-)) concentration and to accelerate pollutant degradation.In this review,we make a summary of the homogeneous and heterogeneous EAOPs-oxidant processes.The reaction mechanisms of EAOPs combined with different oxidants are elucidated in detail,as well as the synergistic effect for improving the degradation and mineralization efficiency.     

A membraneless gas-diffusion unit-multisyringe flow injection spectrophotometric method for ammonium determination in untreated environmental samples

A new design of a membraneless gas-diffusion (MGD) unit coupled to a multisyringe flow injection system is proposed. The spectrophotometric determination of ammonium using an acid-base indicator was chosen to show the feasibility of this approach. Hence, in alkaline medium, ammonium ions are transformed into ammonia (donor channel) which diffuses through the headspace into the acceptor stream (bromothymol blue solution), causing a pH change and subsequently a colour change. The exploitation of the enhanced potentialities of this re-designed MGD device was the main purpose of the present work. Hence, several strategies concerning flow management were studied seeking to characterize and improve the analytical features of the methodology and moreover, untreated environmental samples were analysed without previous filtration. Consequently, stopped flow in acceptor channel with continuous flow in donor channel was chosen for the application to wastewater and spiked river water samples. A linear concentration range between 10.0 and 50.0 mg L⁻¹ of NH₄⁺, a limit of detection of 2.20 mg L⁻¹ and a determination frequency of 11 h⁻¹ were obtained.     

含5-(三氟甲基)-2-吡啶甲酸的黄光铱配合物的合成、光物理性质及量化计算研究

利用环金属配体2-(2’,4’-二氟苯基)-4-甲基吡啶(dfpmpy)和辅助配体5-(三氟甲基)-2-吡啶甲酸(tfmpic)合成了一个铱配合物[Ir(dfpmpy)₂(tfmpic)],并测定了该配合物的光物理和电化学性质。在乙腈溶液中,配合物发射黄色磷光,其最大波长位于554 nm,理论计算表明其磷光来自于金属和环金属配体到辅助配体的电荷转移跃迁(₃MLCT 或 ₃LLCT)。     

The influence of differently substituted cyclopentadienyl CpR ligands on the reactivity of [CpRFe(CO)2]2 with yellow arsenic

The influence of differently substituted cyclopentadienyl Cp^R ligands on the reaction outcome of [Cp^RFe(CO)₂]₂ (Cp^R = C₅Me₅, EtC₅Me₄, 1,3-Bu₂tC₅H₃) with As₄ is examined. For C₅Me₅ and EtC₅Me₄, the pentaarsaferrocene derivatives [Cp^RFe(η⁵-As₅)] are formed together with [(Cp^RFe)₃As₆] and [(Cp^RFe)₃As₆{(η³-As₃)Fe}], while for 1,3-Bu₂^tC₅H₃ only [(Cp^RFe)₃As₆] is formed. The reaction of [(Me₅C₅Fe)₃As₆{(η³-As₃)Fe}] with Tl⁺ leads to [{(Me₅C₅Fe)₃As₆Fe}₂(μ,η³:η³-As₃)]²⁺ representing an unexpected dicationic cluster.     

Activities of idol immersion leads to heavy metal contamination in river Hooghly in and around the city of Kolkata

West Bengal is a rich cultural state for a number of religious festivals. One of the most important festival is Kali Puja and Diwali. Idol is supposed to be the image of God which is used for worship. After worshiping immersion of idols took place in the various Ghats of the river. Several accessories of worship such as flowers, food offerings, plastic sheets, polythene bags etc. are also poured in water. Materials of idols consist of clay, plaster of Paris, varnish, oil paint etc. These paints are highly pigmented and consist of white lead, lithopone, chrome yellow, cadmium sulphide, barium chromate, vermillion, red lead etc. heavy metal salts. This study is an attempt to assess the change in water quality before and after the immersion of idols giving emphasis on heavy metal. The above investigation were carried out by collecting the water samples from six immersion ghats of the river Hooghly before & after immersion of Kali idols of the year 2019 followed by the analysis of the different parameters of water. Investigation reveals a significant changes in heavy metal concentration between pre and post immersion of the idols. A pollution due to the idols immersion into the water bodies cause adverse effect to the aquatic life or entire ecosystem.Use of natural dyes for idols obtained from flowers, leaves roots of plants, wood, seeds may reduce this pollution to a significant level. Moreover, awareness among the people of the society may have a significant responsibility in controlling this pollution satisfactorily.     

Dynamical behavior of solutions of a reaction–diffusion model in river network

In this paper, we study the long-time behavior of solutions of a reaction–diffusion model in a one-dimensional river network, where the river network has two branches, and the water flow speeds in each branch are the same constant $\beta$. We show the existence of two critical values $c_0$ and 2 with $0<c_0<2$, and prove that when $-c_0\le \beta <2$, the population density in every branch of the river goes to 1 as time goes to infinity; when $-2<\beta <-c_0$, then, as time goes to infinity, the population density in every river branch converges to a positive steady state strictly below 1; when $\left|\beta \right|\ge 2$, the species will be washed down the stream, and so locally the population density converges to 0. Our result indicates that only if the water-flow speed is suitably small (i.e., $\left|\beta \right|<2$), the species will survive in the long run.