Efficient disinfection of combined sewer overflows by ultraviolet/peracetic acid through intracellular oxidation with preserving cell integrity.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) introduce microbial contaminants into the receiving water bodies, thereby posing risks to public health. This study systematically investigated the disinfection performance and mechanisms of the combined process of ultraviolet and peracetic acid (UV/PAA) in CSOs with selecting Escherichia coli (E. coli) as a target microbial contaminant. The UV/PAA process exhibited superior performance in inactivating E. coli in simulated CSOs compared with UV, PAA, and UV/H2O2 processes. Increasing the PAA dosage greatly enhanced the disinfection efficiency, while turbidity and organic matter hindered the inactivation performance. Singlet oxygen (1O2), hydroxyl (•OH) and organic radicals (RO•) contributed to the inactivation of E. coli, with •OH and RO• playing the prominent role. Variations of intracellular reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, enzymes activities, DNA contents and biochemical compositions of E. coli cells suggested that UV/PAA primarily caused oxidative damage to intracellular molecules rather than the damage to the lipids of the cell membrane, therefore effectively limited the regrowth of E. coli. Additionally, the UV/PAA process displayed an outstanding performance in disinfecting actual raw CSOs, achieving a 2.90-log inactivation of total bacteria after reaction for 4 min. These results highlighted the practical applicability and effectiveness of the UV/PAA process in the disinfection of CSOs.

Expanding the phenotype of Harel-Yoon syndrome: A case report suggesting a genotype/phenotype correlation.

Harel-Yoon syndrome (HAYOS) is a unique neurodevelopmental genetic disorder characterized by hypotonia, spasticity, intellectual disability, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and global developmental delay. It primarily results from mutations in the ATAD3A gene, pivotal for mitochondrial function. This report presents a 5-year-old girl with HAYOS harboring a de novo heterozygous variant c.1064G>A; (p.G355D) in ATAD3A. Her clinical profile includes delayed milestones, hypotonia, spastic quadriplegia, and ptosis. Notably, dermatologic anomalies such as hypopigmentation, café au lait macules, and freckling are observed, expanding the known phenotype of HAYOS. The inclusion of dermatologic features challenges our understanding of the syndrome and emphasizes the importance of further research to elucidate the molecular connections between ATAD3A mutations and dermatologic manifestations.

Influence of PODE1 additive into ethanol-gasoline blends (E10) on fuel properties and phase stability.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODEn, n = 1-8) as an oxygenated fuel are a promising alternative fuel with a high oxygen concentration, a low C:H ratio, and no C-C bonds in their chemical structure. This could lead to smoke-free combustion. In this study, we chose to focus on PODE1 because of its lower cetane number, which makes it more suitable for use in spark ignition (SI) engines. However, its lower boiling point and octane number remain challenges. A low boiling point may lead to high vapour pressure and require storage and handling comparable to gaseous fuels. We investigated the effect of adding PODE1 to gasoline-ethanol blends (E10) on fuel properties, including distillation curve, octane number, phase stability, C/O/H ratio, heat of combustion, kinematic viscosity, and density. Our results showed that the blended fuels of E10 and PODE1 are stable up to 10 % PODE1, and there was no phase separation. Additionally, up to 10 % PODE1 additive had no significant side effect on the fuel properties of E10, particularly boiling point and octane number. Thus, work offers creative points by proposing a new candidate for additive fuel to gasoline-ethanol blends, which contributes to reducing the soot emission of GDI engines.

Effect of Multifactor on the Stability of Glucose Solution Emulsified Heavy Fuel Oil.

Water emulsified heavy fuel oil (HFO) has been a promising alternative fuel for reducing oil consumption and preventing environmental pollution. However, the intrinsic challenges such as fuel formula, emulsion stability, and preparation process normally limit its further applications in energy-saving and emission reduction applications. In this study, the glucose obtained from biomass was added to a dispersed-phase aqueous solution of water emulsified HFO to prepare a novel alternative emulsified fuel. First, based on the preliminary experimental design, the effects of glucose and surfactant on the stability of the HFO emulsion were systematically evaluated through the appearance of emulsion separation, droplet size distribution, and rheological characteristics. It indicated that the surfactant ratio, hydrophilic-lipophilic balance value, solution ratio, and glucose/water ratio had significant impacts on emulsion stability. Subsequently, the optimum range of influencing factors of emulsion stability was determined by a single factor experiment and determined by the response surface methodology based on the Box-Behnken design; the optimal values of the above factors were 2.439 v/v%, 5.807, 26.462 v/v%, and 35.729%, respectively. Under these conditions, an optimal glucose solution emulsified HFO with a uniform brown color and long-term stability was obtained, making the unseparated emulsion ratio reach 98% (lasting for 7 days at 85 °C). Meanwhile, it emerged that the influence of multifactor on emulsion stability was not a simple linear correlation, and there were significant interactions between the solution ratio and the surfactant ratio, as well as between the glucose/water ratio and the surfactant ratio.

Non-Radical Activation of Peracetic Acid by Powdered Activated Carbon for the Degradation of Sulfamethoxazole.

Environmental-friendly and low-cost catalysts for peracetic acid (PAA) activation are vital to promote their application for micropollutant degradation in water. In this study, powdered activated carbon (PAC) was reported to improve the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX). The improvement of SMX degradation in the PAC/PAA system was expected to be because of the PAA activation rather than the co-existing H2O2 activation. Non-radical oxidation pathways, including the mediated electron-transfer process and singlet oxygen (1O2), were evidenced to play the dominant roles in the degradation of micro-organic pollutants. The graphitization of PAC, persistent free radicals, and electron-donating groups like C-OH were proposed to contribute to the activation of PAA. High SMX degradation could be achieved in the acidic and neutral conditions in the PAC/PAA system. Overall, higher dosages of PAC (0-0.02 g/L) and PAA (0-100 µM) benefited the degradation of SMX. The presence of HCO3- could lower the SMX degradation significantly, while Cl-, PO43-, and humic acid (HA) only reduced the SMX degradation efficiency a little. Overall, this study offered an efficient non-radical PAA activation method using PAC, which can be effectively used to degrade micro-organic pollutants.

Magnetic chitosan/TiO2 composite for vanadium(v) adsorption simultaneously being transformed to an enhanced natural photocatalyst for the degradation of rhodamine B.

A magnetic chitosan/TiO2 composite material (MCT) was developed. MCT was successfully synthesized by a one-pot method using chitosan, TiO2, and Fe3O4. The absorption equilibrium time of MCT was 40 min in absorbing vanadium(v), the optimal adsorption pH was 4, and the maximum adsorption capacity of vanadium(v) was 117.1 mg g-1. The spent MCT was applied to photocatalytic reactions for reutilization. The decolorization rates for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) by new and spent MCT were 86.4% and 94.3%, respectively. The new and spent MCT exhibited absorption bands at 397 and 455 nm, respectively, which showed that the spent MCT was red-shifted to the cyan light region. These results indicated that the forbidden band widths of the new and spent MCT were about 3.12 and 2.72 eV, respectively. The mechanism of the degradation reaction showed that the hydroxyl radicals as oxidants in the spent MCT mediated the photocatalytic degradation of RhB. In addition, the superoxide anion radical formation of hydroxyl radicals was the main reaction, and the hole generation of hydroxyl radicals was the subordinate reaction. The N-de-ethylated intermediates and organic acids were monitored by MS and HPLC.

New insights into the degradation of micro-pollutants in the hydroxylamine enhanced Fe(II)/peracetic acid process: Contribution of reactive species and effects of pH.

The hydroxylamine-enhanced Fe(II)/peracetic acid (PAA) process is a promising advanced oxidation process (AOP) with the generation of reactive species (RS) including RO•, •OH and Fe(IV). Nevertheless, it is still challenging to identify which RS is the major intermediate oxidant, and the reasons why the optimal condition is pH 4.5 rather than 3.0 are also unclear. Herein, the generation of RS and their contribution to the degradation of three micro-pollutants were explored. The quenching experiments and pseudo first-order kinetic model demonstrated that RO• rather than the other two RS were predominant. Then the overall generation and evolution pathways of RS were depicted. The elevation of pH (3.0-4.5) would accelerate the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox cycle through the enhanced reduction of Fe(III) by hydroxylamine and induce the conversion of Fe(IV) to RO•, which benefited naproxen degradation. While the adverse Fe(III) precipitation would dominate the reduced degradation performance with the solution pH higher than 4.5. The elevation of PAA and Fe(II) dosages sped up the PAA activation, while excess hydroxylamine could consume the formed RS and exhibited an inhibitory effect. This study helps further understand the role of HA and differentiate the contribution of RS in the emerging PAA-based AOPs.

Immobilized penicillin G acylase with enhanced activity and stability using glutaraldehyde-modified polydopamine-coated Fe3 O4 nanoparticles.

In this work, Fe3 O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were coated with polydopamine (PDA) to structure Fe3 O4 @PDA NPs by the spontaneous oxygen-mediated self-polymerization of dopamine (DA) in an aqueous solution of pH = 8.5. The fabricated Fe3 O4 @PDA NPs were grafted by glutaraldehyde to realize the immobilization of penicillin G acylase (PGA) under mild conditions. The carriers of each stage were characterized and investigated by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, and vibrating sample magnetometry. To improve the catalytic activity and stability of immobilized PGA, the immobilization conditions were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal immobilization conditions, the enzyme loading capacity, enzyme activity, and enzyme activity recovery of immobilized PGA were 114 mg/g, 26,308 U/g, and 78.5%, respectively. In addition, the immobilized PGA presented better temperature and pH stability compared with free PGA. The reusability study ensured that the immobilized PGA showed an excellent repeating application performance. In particular, the recovery rate of immobilized PGA could reach 94.8% and immobilized PGA could retain 73.0% of its original activity after 12 cycles, indicating that the immobilized PGA exhibited a high operation stability and broad application potential in the biocatalysis field.

Comparative study of poly tannic acid functionalized magnetic particles before and after modification for immobilized penicillin G acylase.

In this work, Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) was synthesized by inverting microemulsion method. After that, based on the physical and chemical properties of tannic acid (TA), poly tannic acid (PTA) was coated on Fe3O4 NPs surface. Fe3O4 NPs coated with PTA, on the one hand, was used to immobilize Penicillin G acylase (PGA) by physical adsorption. On the other hand, it was modified by glutaraldehyde (GA). GA grafting rate (Gr-GA) was optimized, and the Gr-GA was 30.0% under the optimum conditions. Then, through the Schiff base reaction between the glutaraldehyde group and PGA amino group, this covalent immobilization of PGA was further realized under mild conditions. Finally, the structures of every stage of magnetic composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibration magnetometer (VSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The results indicated that the enzyme activity (EA), enzyme activity recovery (EAR) and maximum load (ELC) of the immobilized PGA were 26843 U/g, 80.2% and 125 mg/g, respectively. Compared to the physical immobilization of PGA by only coating PTA nanoparticles, further modified nanoparticles by GA showed higher catalytic stability, reusability and storage stability.

The study of Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2 nano-magnetic composite modified by glutaraldehyde to immobilized penicillin G acylase.

Preparation of biocatalyst dependent on immobilized penicillin G acylase (PGA) was of substantial importance for proteomic research, organic synthesis, and industrial applications. Herein, we developed an easy method for nano-magnetic composite to immobilize PGA. Fe3O4 nano-magnetic particles were co-precipitated with Fe3+ and Fe2+ in an ammonia solution (NH3) and treated with silicon dioxide (SiO2), which was developed using the sol-gel process. Thereafter, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was used to modify the silica-coated Fe3O4, which would result in the attachment of the primary amine groups to the particle surface. After that, the attachment of primary amine group was reacted with glutaraldehyde (Glu) to immobilize PGA; the products related to each step were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), vibration sample magnetometer (VSM), and scanning electron microscope-energy spectroscopy of dispersive x-rays (SEM-EDS). Condition investigation results revealed that the suitable pH value, reaction time, and immobilization temperature were 8.0, 6 h, and 40 °C, respectively, under optimal conditions. Enzyme loading capacity (ELC), enzyme activity (EA), and enzyme activity retention ratio (EAR) of PGA were 9198 U, 14602 U/g, and 87.7% respectively. Reusability findings showed that the immobilization PGA preserved 79% of its activity after 11 cycles of repeating.

Selective identification and separation of ReO4- by biomimetic flexible temperature-sensitive imprinted composite membranes.

A new type of temperature-sensitive imprinted composite membranes(ICMs) was developed. Poly N,N-diethylacrylamide (DEA) blocks, as temperature-sensitive polymer, were grafted onto the substrate of the imprinted polymer separation layer to endow membranes with better adsorption effect. The comprehensive properties of the imprinted composite membranes were adequately tested and evaluated in detail. Results showed that ReO4- -ICMs (Re-ICMs) with temperature-sensitive recognition sites could adjust the structure of the imprinted holes at different temperatures, which presented excellent performance in the selective separation and purification of ReO4-. The prepared Re-ICMs exhibit the maximum adsorption capacity of 0.1639 mmol/g at 35 °C with the equilibrium adsorption time of 2 h. After ten adsorption/desorption cycles, Re-ICMs could still maintain 73.5% of the original adsorption capacity, the separation degree of ReO4-/MnO4- was only reduced from the initial 24.5 to 15.9, and the desorption ratio dropped from 80.4% to 68.4%, indicating that Re-ICMs have excellent adsorption and separation performance and reusability.

Magnetic thermosensitive polymer composite carrier with target spacing for enhancing immobilized enzyme performance.

A novel magnetic thermosensitive polymer composite carrier with target spacing was developed. In this strategy, thermosensitive polymer grafted on magnetic Fe3O4 for enhancing immobilized penicillin G acylase (PGA) performance and introduce immobilized target spacing into magnetic carriers for the first time. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by a reverse microemulsion method. The modifier used was the silane coupling agent γ-methylacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (KH570) and then reacting with a reversible-adaptive fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) reagent, 2-cyano-2-propyldodecyl trithiocarbonate (CPDTC). The thermo-sensitive nanoparticle-composite carrier of Fe3O4-grafted-poly N, N-diethyl acrylamide-block-poly ß-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate-block-random copolymer of glycidyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate (Fe3O4-g-PDEA-b-PHEMA-b-P(MMA-co-GMA)) were synthesized by RAFT polymerization technique that used N, N-diethyl acrylamide (DEA), ß-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and Methyl methacrylate (MMA) as monomer, then which were employed as functional carriers for the immobilization of PGA. Within the carrier, the epoxy group of GMA segment was a target immobilization site for PGA and the introduction of MMA reflected the target space of immobilized PGA to improve catalytic activity and catalytic activity recovery rate of the immobilized PGA. Characterizations demonstrated that the triblock copolymers grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by the structure design. Besides, under these circumstances the enzyme activity (EA), enzyme loading capacity (ELC) and catalytic activity recovery ration (CAR) reached 31235 U/g, 128.39 mg/g and 93.32 %, respectively. The catalytic activity of immobilized PGA maintained 87.4 % of initial value and the recovery ratio (R) of immobilized PGA reached 96.22 % after recycling 12 times. Furthermore, the immobilized PGA exhibited advantages of low temperature homogeneous catalysis and magnetic separation, which indicated broad application prospects in the biocatalysts' field.

Smart ion imprinted polymer for selective adsorption of Ru(â ¢) and simultaneously waste sample being transformed as a catalyst.

In this work, a temperature-sensitive block polymer PDEA-b-P(DEA-co-AM) was synthesized and then introduced into the preparation of a smart Ru(Ⅲ) imprinted polymer (Ru-IIP) to selectively adsorption Ru(Ⅲ) first. Then the waste Ru-IIP was converted into a catalyst in-situ for recycle. The structure and morphology of the prepared polymer were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, Scanning electron microscope, BET surface area and Thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption properties of the synthesized smart material were investigated in terms of adsorption pH, adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm. Results documented that the optimal adsorption temperature and pH were 35 °C and 1.5 respectively, the maximum adsorption capacity was 0.153 mmol/g, and the adsorption processes of Ru-IIP were more suitable to be expressed by pseudo-first-order kinetic and Langmuir model. The selectivity studied in different binary mixed solutions showed that Ru-IIP has good selectivity, and reusability results showed that Ru-IIP still maintains a good adsorption effect after 8 cycles. In addition, the waste Ru-IIP, a Ru(Ⅲ) remained waste sample was employed as the catalyst for the synthesis of imines, and result showed the mass of adsorbent would reduce after the completion of catalysis, which could not only catalyze the reaction but also reduce pollution.

Correction to Study on Synthesis and Adsorption Properties of ReO4 - Ion-Imprinted Polymer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c02634.].

A review of NOx and SOx emission reduction technologies for marine diesel engines and the potential evaluation of liquefied natural gas fuelled vessels.

Due to intensive marine activities and the use of low-quality fuel oils, the marine transport accounts for a considerable part of air pollution in the transportation sector. Although ships provide the convenient transportation, they exhaust a large number of hazardous pollutants, especially nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), which have a significant side effect on environment and human health. To alleviate the impact of global shipping on the environment, international maritime organization established the more stringent emission regulations from Tier I to Tier III in order to reduce emissions from ships. As a result, various emission reduction technologies need to be developed in order to meet more stringent regulations in the future and reduce the pollutant emissions. Under this background, it is indispensable to examine the existing emission reduction technologies when exploring another possible method to reduce the pollutant emissions. Based on a significant number of related literatures, it is general to utilize the marine alternative fuels to reduce the pollutant emissions. Especially, liquid natural gas (LNG) is considered to be one of the most promising marine alternative fuels due to its economy and environmentally friendly features. This review thus aims to summarize the different emission reduction technologies of marine diesel engines through three reduction paths of fuel optimization, pre-combustion control and exhaust after-treatment. Furthermore, the utilization of LNG in the marine diesel engines are evaluated comprehensively from three aspects of environmental protection, energy structure and economic benefits. At the end, some suggestions on the future research are given based on the extensive review on the state-of-the-art literature.

Study on Synthesis and Adsorption Properties of ReO4 - Ion-Imprinted Polymer.

In this work, an ion imprinted polymer (ReO4 --IIP) of the perrhenate ion based on acrylamide (AM) and acrylic acid (AA) was prepared by solution polymerization using ReO4 - as a template ion, N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA) as cross-linkers, hydrogen peroxide-vitamin C (H2O2-Vc) as an initiator, and a mixed solution of water (H2O) and methanol (CH3OH) with volume ratio v(H2O)/v(CH3OH) = 3:7 as a solvent. During the process of synthesis condition investigation and optimization, the adsorption capacity (Q) and the separation degree (R) in the equimolar concentration mixture solutions of NH4ReO4 and KMnO4 were adopted as indexes, and the obtained optimal conditions were as follows: the molar ratios of NMBA, NH4ReO4, AA, H2O2, and Vc to AM were 5.73, 0.052, 1.29, 0.02, and 0.003, and the temperature and time of polymerization were 40 °C and 28 h, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the sample with indexes, Q and R of 0.064 mmol/g and 3.20, were harvested. What is more, a further reusability study found that good adsorption selectivity was maintained after repeating the experiment 9 times. Taking the non-IP prepared under the same conditions as a control, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Brunauer Emmett Teller were used to characterize the structure of the ReO4 --IIP prepared under the optimal conditions. Finally, the kinetic study results showed that the zero-order kinetic model could better describe the adsorption process. The thermodynamic study results showed that the Langmuir model was more suitable for describing the isotherm adsorption process of the IIP.

Glutathione Surface Molecularly Imprinted Polymer from CLX1180 via Three Modes of Polymerization for Selective Adsorption of Glutathione.

A novel glutathione (GSH) surface molecularly imprinted polymer (SMIP) was prepared using modified macroporous adsorption resin (MAR) CLX1180 as a solid substrate, glutathione as a template, acrylamide (AM) and N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) as functional monomers, and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA) as a cross-linker. The reaction could be initiated by three different ways, using CLX1180, GSH, and both, which was proved by the experimentation. The morphology and structure of this polymer were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS). The maximum adsorption capacity of GSH approached 39.03 mg·g-1, and the separation degree related to l-cysteine was as high as 4.18. Pseudo-first-order and Langmuir models were well fitting the adsorption properties. GSH-SMIP could be used for three adsorption/desorption cycles with only a slight decrease of adsorption capacity.

Optimization of penicillin G acylase immobilized on glutaraldehyde-modified titanium dioxide.

In this work, TiO2 , which was modified by glutaraldehyde, was adopted as the carrier; the penicillin G acylase (PGA) was immobilized and the influence of immobilized conditions, such as pH of solution, the concentration of PGA, the immobilization temperature, and the reaction time, on the catalytic performance of the immobilized PGA was investigated and optimized. During this process, potassium penicillin G (PG) was chosen as substrate, and the quantity of 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) produced by PG at the temperature of 25 °C for 3 Min in neutral solution was conscripted as the evaluation foundation, indexes, containing the loading capacity (ELC), the activity (EA), and activity retention rate (EAR), were calculated based on quantities of produced 6-APA and compared with finding out the suitable conditions. Results showed that when the solution pH, PGA concentration, immobilization temperature, and reaction time were 8.0, 2.5% (v/v), 35 °C, and 24 H, respectively, ELC, EA, and EAR presented optimal values of 9,190 U, 14,969 U/g, and 88.5% relatedly. After that, the stability and reusability of immobilized PGA were studied, and the results documented that the pH resistance, thermal stability, and storage stability of immobilized PGA were significantly improved. This work provided technique support for the practical application of immobilized PGA carrier.

Study of target spacing of thermo-sensitive carrier on the activity recovery of immobilized penicillin G acylase.

The immobilized penicillin G acylase (PGA) is an important industrial catalyst, the activity recovery rate of it directly affects enterprise efficiency. How to improve the enzyme activity recovery rate has been a research focus in this field. Based on the above problems, this work further improved the activity recovery rate by adjusting the target spacing for the first time. Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was used as the immobilized target and methyl methacrylate (MMA) as the copolymer monomer. According to the copolymer composition equation of P(MMA-co-GMA), the thermo-sensitive copolymers, PDEA-b-PHEMA-b-P(MMA-co-GMA) with different target spacings, were synthesized rapidly and efficiently via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization method. The error range between the theoretical and actual values of MMA and GMA in the copolymers carrier was (0-4)%, which demonstrated that the reliability of using composition equation to accurately and quickly synthesize copolymers with specific spacing. Studies on the thermo-sensitive showed that the low critical solution temperature (LCST) of the copolymer carrier decreased with the increase of hydrophobic monomer. Most importantly, the activity recovery rate increased with the increase of target spacing, and when the molar ratio of MMA to GMA in the copolymer was 8.75:1, the recovery of activity of immobilized PGA could be up to 63.50%, which was 21.70% higher than that of pure GMA. This work provided an important idea for improving the activity of immobilized PGA.

Design and synthesis study of the thermo-sensitive poly (N-vinylpyrrolidone-b- N, N-diethylacrylamide).

The reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization method was adopted here to prepare a series of thermo-sensitive copolymers, poly (N,N-diethyl- acrylamide-b-N-vinylpyrrolidone). Their structures, molecular weight distribution and temperature sensitivity performances were characterized by the nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR), the gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and the fluorescence spectrophotometer, respectively. It has been identified that the synthesis reaction of the block copolymer was living polymerization. The thermo-sensitivity study suggested that N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), played a key role on the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) performance.