Insight into the binding characteristics of dissolved organic matter(DOM)and Fe(â ¡)/Mn(â ¡): Based on the spectroscopic and dialysis equilibrium analysis.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in metal migration and transformation within inland surface waters. In our study, spectroscopic and dialysis equilibrium analysis were combined to characterize the binding properties between DOM and Fe(II)/Mn(II). Four different type of DOM including two commercial DOM: humic acid、fulvic acid, and two natural dissolved organic matter collected from macrophyte-dominant region (MDR) and algae-dominated region (ADR) of Taihu Lake. Steady state/time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that the fluorescence intensity of DOM was quenched by Fe(II)/Mn(II) through a static quenching process. The adsorption isotherm shows that the adsorption capacity of DOM from Taihu Lake for metal ions is significantly higher than that of commercial humic acid. Simultaneously, the combination of MDR and Fe(II) has the highest adsorption capacity at 110.950 mg/g among all combinations. Furthermore, the Pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Elovich model were found to be superior in describing the adsorption process, with chemical adsorption controlling the rate of the adsorption reaction. The results of this study show that potentially toxic elements (PETs) pollution in eutrophic shallow lakes may become more serious due to the excessive expansion of algae dominant regions and the reduction of macrophyte dominant regions. In addition, risk analysis and assessment of PETs should consider the contribution of metal binding capabilities.

Elevating Charge Transport Layer for Stable Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

Ion migration is a major factor affecting the long term stability of perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which limits their commercialization potential. The accumulation of excess halide ions at the grain boundaries of perovskite films is a primary cause of ion migration in these devices. Here, it is demonstrated that the channels of ion migrations can be effectively impeded by elevating the hole transport layer between the perovskite grain boundaries, resulting in highly stable perovskite LEDs. The unique structure is achieved by reducing the wettability of the perovskites, which prevents infiltration of the upper hole-transporting layer into the spaces of perovskite grain boundaries. Consequently, nanosized gaps are formed between the excess halide ions and the hole transport layer, effectively suppressing ion migration. With this structure, perovskite LEDs with operational half-lifetimes of 256 and 1774 h under current densities of 100 and 20 mA cm-2 respectively are achieved. These lifetimes surpass those of organic LEDs at high brightness. It is further found that this approach can be extended to various perovskite LEDs, showing great promise for promoting perovskite LEDs toward commercial applications.

Effect of Metal Cations on Colloids-Microcystin-LR Interaction.

Colloidal particles, mixture with continuous molecular weight distribution and multiple organic components, is widespread in lake and have significant impact on the retention, migration, transportation, and fate of contaminants in lake ecosystems. Here we extract sedimentary colloids from algal growth dominant area (AD) in Taihu Lake and further separated into four different particle size ranges by cross-flow ultra-filtration (CFUF). The interaction mechanism between colloids and Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) was investigated under different cation conditions by dialysis equilibrium experiment method. Adsorption kinetics research shows the adsorption of MC-LR by colloids follows second-order kinetics and can be simulated by Freundlich isotherms. The effects of different cations on colloids-MC-LR interaction shows the addition of Mg(II) decreased colloids-MC-LR interaction, while Cu(II) increased colloids-MC-LR binding. MC-LR also increased Cu(II) binding to colloids, while MC-LR decreased Mg(II) binding. Therefore, different effect of cations to colloids-MC-LR interaction was proposed.

Polycyclodextrin as a linker for nanomedicine fabrication and synergistic anticancer application.

Polycyclodextrin (denoted PCD) composed of cyclodextrin monomer units and 1,3-diethoxypropan-2-ol containing many hydroxyl groups with lone pairs of electrons, easily coordinated with transition metals with empty orbitals. The CD unit can also provide host-guest binding sites for functional molecules. This article utilizes this feature of PCD for the first time as a "linker" to combine transition metal nanomaterials with synergistic functional molecules. We synthesized PCD with 50% CD monomer by epichlorohydrin cross-linking method. Utilizing the coordination effect of the hydroxyl group in PCD and the iron ion in photothermal nanoparticles (PB-Yb), the PCD is coated on its surface; simultaneously, CD in PCD can form a host-guest complex with adamantane-modified zinc phthalocyanine (Pc) photosensitizer. Using PCD as a "linker", PB-Yb and Pc (denoted PYPP) were combined to improve the solubility of PB-Yb, reduce the aggregation degree of Pc to increase their activity, and achieve photothermal and photodynamic synergistic tumor therapy.

Distribution Characteristics and Relevance of Heavy Metals in Soils and Colloids Around a Mining Area in Nanjing, China.

Heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils poses a direct threat to food safety and human health. It has been shown that the colloids is the carrier of heavy metal transport in the polluted soil by heavy metals, but the sources of heavy metals in the soil and colloids and their interrelations are not transparent at present. This study aims to investigate the distribution characteristics of heavy metals in agricultural soils near mining areas, and reveal the relevance of heavy metal content in colloids with total content in soils and their chemical species in soils. Results showed that the concentrations of Mn, Zn, and Pb in agricultural soils and colloids were higher than those of other heavy metals. The content of heavy metals in colloids was positively correlated with the total content of heavy metals in soil. Heavy metals in soil could be easily combined by humus-like substances and tryptophan-like protein in the colloids. The primary source of heavy metals in soil and colloids was mining activities. This study provides theoretical support for revealing the pollution characteristics and migration of heavy metals in agricultural soils and colloids around mining areas.

Response of Taste and Odor Compounds to Elevated Cyanobacteria Biomass and Temperature.

Taste and odor (T&O) compounds are frequently reported during black blooms, however, their production mechanisms and influencing factors are far from clear. In this study, laboratory simulation experiment was carried out to investigate the formation processes of T&O compounds under the influences of temperature, cyanobacteria biomass and their combined effects. The decay of cyanobacteria blooms caused increased T&O compounds loading to water. Results showed the maximum dimethyl sulfide (DMS) release concentration was observed at 35°C compared with that at 25 and 30°C. DMS release concentration under cyanobacteria biomass of 25000 g/m3 demonstrated the highest production, whereas the minimum DMS production were obtained under 7500 g/m3. Similar patterns were observed for dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone production. Therefore, higher temperature and higher cyanobacteria biomass can enhance the concentration of T&O compounds. Furthermore, there were synergistic effects of cyanobacteria biomass and temperature on the production of T&O compounds.

Distributions of four taste and odor compounds in the sediment and overlying water at different ecology environment in Taihu Lake.

Organic matter-induced black blooms, such as cyanobacterial and vegetation blooms, are a serious ecosystem disasters that have occurred in Taihu Lake. After large-scale outbreaks of blooms in eutrophic water, a large number of cyanobacterial and vegetation residue accumulate in the coastal areas, and rapidly fermented into odorous compounds. In this study, four taste and odor compounds have been analyzed in sediments and overlying water of different ecology environment in Taihu Lake. High concentrations of DMDS (up to 7165.25 ngg-1 dw-1), DMTS (up to 50.93 ngg-1 dw-1), ß-cyclocitral (up to 5441.69 ngg-1 dw-1), ß-ionone (up to 1669.37 ngg-1 dw-1) were detected in sediments. Also, the spatial distributions of DMDS, DMTS, ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone in the sediments were investigated. As the depth of sediment increases, nutrients and odorous compounds are greatly reduced. The results showed that during the degradation of cyanobacterial and vegetation residues, DMDS, DMTS, ß-cyclocitral, ß-ionone and nutrients are gradually released. In addition, when assessing the source of odorous compounds in overlying water, it should also be considered that it may be released from the sediment. This study shows that odorous compounds are ubiquitous in near-shore zones Taihu Lake, and may take potential hazard to aquatic ecosystems.

Spatial distributions of ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone in the sediment and overlying water of the west shore of Taihu Lake.

After large-scale outbreaks of algal blooms in eutrophic water, considerable amounts of algae residue accumulate in near-shore zones before fermenting rapidly and becoming malodorous. Taste and odor pollution caused by secondary metabolites from cyanobacterial blooms has become a serious and widespread environmental problem. Two typical odorous compounds, ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone, have gained increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, the spatial distributions of ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone in the sediments and overlying water off the west shore of Taihu Lake were investigated. The results showed that ß-cyclocitral, ß-ionone and nutrients are released during the degradation of fresh cyanobacteria, especially in the early stages. The odorous compounds and nutrients greatly decreased as the depth of sediment increased, indicating that reed roots can absorb ß-cyclocitral, ß-ionone and nutrients. Furthermore, removing cyanobacteria and dredging sludge might reduce the release of ß-cyclocitral and ß-ionone.

Amine-functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles for highly selective enrichment of phosphopeptides.

Specific enrichment of trace phosphoproteins or phosphopeptides from complex biological samples prior to mass spectrometry analysis is of profound significance for in-depth phosphoproteomics. In this work, an amine-functionalized TiO2 nano-material with N'[3-(trimethoxysilyl)-propyl] diethylenetriamine (TPDA) modified on the surface of nanoparticle TiO2 (TiO2@TPDA) was successfully designed and applied for the enrichment of phosphopeptides. Compared with pure TiO2, the novel prepared TiO2@TPDA possessed lower Lewis acidity, enhanced hydrophilicity and stronger affinity to phosphopeptides, and its performance for selective and effective enrichment of phosphopeptide was investigated by the standard protein digests and human serum.

Interactions of CT-DNA with Hypocrellin A and its Al(3+)-Hypocrellin A complex.

In this study, the chelation of Hypocrellin A (HA) with Al(3+) in water solution has been synthesized, and the interactions of HA and Al(3+)-HA complex with calf thymus DNA are in detail compared by UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques, circular dichroism spectroscopy and viscosity measurement. The experiment results suggest that HA and Al(3+)-HA complex both could bind to CT DNA by intercalation mode, and double helix of DNA was damaged. Moreover, Al(3+)-HA complex not only displays higher absorption at therapeutic window but also displays stronger binding affinity to CT DNA than HA.

Complexation of Hypocrellin A with Al3+ in water solution and the photodynamic therapy study.

The complex of Hypocrellin A with Al(3+) is prepared in water solution by a facile method. The water-solubility and stability of complexes are improved. Irradiation of Al(3+)-HA complex results in higher efficient generation of singlet oxygen ((1)O2) and photocleavage ability to CT DNA than HA. In vitro studies have illustrated that the Al(3+)-HA complex has anti-cancer activity.

Study on the conformation changes of Lysozyme induced by Hypocrellin A: the mechanism investigation.

The interactions between Lysozyme and Hypocrellin A are investigated in details using time-resolved fluorescence, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), three-dimensional fluorescence spectra, and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The results of time-resolved fluorescence suggest that the quenching mechanism is static quenching. FTIR and CD spectroscopy provide evidences of the reducing of α-helix after interaction. Hypocrellin A could change the micro-environmental of Lysozyme according to hydrophobic interaction between the aromatic ring and the hydrophobic amino acid residues, and the altered polypeptide backbone structures induce the reduction of α-helical structures. Moreover, TGA study further demonstrates the structure changes of Lysozyme on the effect of Hypocrellin A. This study could provide some important information for the derivatives of HA in pharmacy, pharmacology and biochemistry.

Application of the soluble salt-assisted route to scalable synthesis of ZnO nanopowder with repeated photocatalytic activity.

In this paper, the soluble salt-assisted route has been extended to the low-cost and scalable preparation of ZnO nanostructures via the simple oxidation of Zn-Na2SO4 mixture followed by washing with water. The as-prepared ZnO nanopowders are of nanoscaled size, hexagonal phase, and pure, without being stained by Na2SO4. Their optical band gap is 3.22 eV, exhibiting a red-shift of 0.15 eV in comparison with pure ZnO bulk, and their optical absorbance is strong in the region of 200-400 nm, suggesting their full utilization of most of the UV light in sunlight. The product shows evident photocatalytic activity in degradation of RhB under solar light irradiation, and then its solar light degradation efficiency is close to that under UV irradiation, indicating that there is a possibility of practical application. More importantly, the obtained ZnO nanoparticles, because of the quick precipitation by themselves in solution with no stirring, could be easily recycled without any accessorial means such as high-speed centrifuge. The low-cost and scalable preparation, high photocatalytic activity, and convenient recycling of this ZnO nanomaterial gives it potential in purifying waste water. Hence the interesting results in this study indicate the wide range of the soluble salt-assisted route for the industrial preparation of many other advanced nanomaterials.

Selective photoreduction of nitrobenzene to aniline on TiO2 nanoparticles modified with amino acid.

The photoreduction of nitrobenzene (NB) on TiO(2) nanoparticles modified with asparagine (Asp), serine (Ser), phenylalanine (Phe) and tyrosine (Tyr), which were found to bind to TiO(2) via carboxyl group, have been investigated under high-pressure mercury irradiation. Modification of TiO(2) with Asp, Ser and Phe resulted in enhanced photocatalytic degradation rate of NB and high selective activity to aniline (AN) compared to using bare TiO(2). Furthermore, NB degradation followed a reductive approach over Asp, Ser, Phe-modified TiO(2) whether in additional of methanol or not. The result indicates that modification of TiO(2) with electron-donating groups is an effective way to enhance photoreduction of nitroaromatic compounds.

[Study on interaction of caffeine with myoglobin by fluorescence spectroscopy].

The interaction of caffein and myoglobin was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy. The intrinsic fluorescence of myoglobin was significantly quenched by caffein under the physiological condition (pH 7.4). The results indicated that caffeine was capable of binding with myoglobin to form a 1:1 complex and the quenching mechanism of myoglobin affected by caffeine was shown to be a static quenching procedure by calculating quenching constant, binding sites and binding constant. According to the thermodynamic parameters, the main binding force of the interaction is electrostatic force and hydrophobic force. The change in the micro-circumstance of aminos of myoglobin was analyzed by synchronous fluorescence spectrometry. The result indicated that caffeine can change the conformation of the protein, leading to the change in the micro-environment of tryptophane and tyrosine residues from hydrophobic environment to hydrophilic environment to different extent.