Facile preparation of acid-resistant magnetite particles for removal of Sb(â ¢) from strong acidic solution.

A new facile coating strategy based on the hydrophobicity of methyl groups was developed to prevent nano-sized magnetite particles from strong acid corrosion. In this method, three steps of hydrolysis led to three layers of protection shell coating Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Filled with hydrophobic methyl groups, the middle layer mainly prevented the magnetic core from strong acid corrosion. These magnetite particles managed to resist 1 M HCl solution and 2.5 M H2SO4 solution. The acid resistant ability was higher than those reported previously. After further modification with amino-methylene-phosphonic groups, these magnetite particles successfully adsorbed Sb(III) in strong acid solution. This new strategy can also be applied to protect other materials from strong acid corrosion.

Insight into selective removal of copper from high-concentration nickel solutions with XPS and DFT: New technique to prepare 5N-nickel with chelating resin.

An efficient and profitable separation process was proposed to prepare 5N (the purity of the metal solution reaches 99.999%) high-purity nickel from 3N nickel-solutions using Purolite S984. The adsorption performance of this superior resin, especially its selectivity for metal ions, was explored quantitatively. The maximum adsorption capacity for copper was 2.286mmol/g calculated by the Langmuir model, which was twice as large as that for nickel. In the binary systems, the adsorption capacity for nickel was decreased by 45%, indicating direct competition for the active sites. The infinite separation factor for copper versus nickel exceeded 300, revealing the feasibility of preparing 5N-level high-purity nickel solutions, which was further verified using the 800BV (bed volume) effluent in the column dynamic process. According to the cost-benefit analysis, purification contributed to a profit of approximately 60,000USD per cycle, and the investment return period was less than 1/3years. Density functional theory analysis confirmed that four nitrogen atoms would be involved in the coordination complex and thus a structure involving two five-membered rings could be achieved. The X-ray photoelectron spectra confirmed the involvement of nitrogen atoms, implying a coordination ratio of approximately 1:1.

An electrokinetic route to rapid synthesis of nickel hydroxide and nickel oxide nanotubes.

An electrokinetic route was developed for the synthesis of Ni(OH)2 nanotubes in the nanochannel of anodic alumina oxide (AAO) template. The nanotubes in the template were then converted to NiO nanotubes by calcination in air at 300 degrees. Uniform ordered nanotubes were obtained after selecting proper experimental conditions, such as the ionic concentration, the reaction time and the kind of nickel salts. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the as-prepared Ni(OH)2 nanotubes were crystalline. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to determine the correlation between temperature and weight lose of the nanotubes. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the nanotubes.

A sugar-quinoline fluorescent chemosensor for selective detection of Hg2+ ion in natural water.

A selective and sensitive fluorescent sensor for detection of Hg2+ in natural water was achieved by incorporating the well-known fluorophore quinoline group and a water-soluble D-glucosamine group within one molecule.

Naked-eye detection of fluoride ion in water: a remarkably selective easy-to-prepare test paper.

A test paper for high-selectivity detecting fluoride ion in natural aqueous environments without any spectroscopic instrumentation was achieved by using Ru-bipy based quinonehydrazone as a chromo- and fluorogenic hybrid chemosensor.

Multimethod characterization of the interaction of aluminum ion with alpha-ketoglutaric acid in acidic aqueous solutions.

It has recently been reported that aluminum plays a very important role in reducing the activity of Krebs-cycle enzymes and glutamate dehydrogenase in rat brain homogenate. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the aluminum binding ability with the pivotal substrate alpha-ketoglutarate in biological systems. The interactions of aluminum with alpha-ketoglutarate were studied with pH-potentiometry, cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis, 1H, 27Al-NMR and Raman spectra multi-analytical techniques in acidic aqueous solution to measure the stoichiometries and stability constants of the complexes and its keto-enol tautomerism. The alpha-ketoglutarate was found to bind Al in a bidentate manner at the carboxylate and carbonyl moieties. The mononuclear 1:1 (AlLH(-1), AIL+, AlHL2+) and 2:1 (AlL2-, AlL2H(-2)3-) species, and dinuclear 2:1 (Al2L4+) species were found in acidic aqueous solution. Meanwhile, Al can promote alpha-KG tautomerize to its enolic-structure compounds in solutions. These findings may help to further understand the influence of Al on GDH enzyme reactions in biological systems.

Enhancement mechanisms behind exclusive removal and selective recovery of copper from salt solutions with an aminothiazole-functionalized adsorbent.

The aminothiazole-functionalized adsorbent (CEAD) could exclusively remove and to selectively recover copper. The adsorption and separation properties of Cu(II) onto CEAD from aqueous media, with or without salts such as NaNO3, Ca(NO3)2 and Ni(NO3)2, were systematically compared by carrying out single, binary and multiple component static and dynamic experiments. In binary systems, the adsorption capacities of Cu(II) were obviously increased by 39.47%, 47.37% and 57.89% with Ni(NO3)2, NaNO3 and Ca(NO3)2, respectively. Besides, simulation study was performed to selectively recover Cu(II) from multi-component aqueous media, with the separation factor of only 54.91 in aqueous media without salts. The separation factor became infinite in the presence of NaNO3 and the enhancement ratio for Cu(II) was raised by 126.31%. Dynamic adsorption could separate Cu(II) and Ni(II) completely and the amount of effluent for pure Ni(II) increased to 127 BV with the help of NaNO3. In the predominant chelating mode simulated by density functional theory calculation, a metal ion coordinated with three nitrogen atoms and formed a chelating complex with two five-membered rings, and Cu(II) showed stronger coordinating ability than Ni(II) did. Meanwhile, anions exerted significant beneficial effects by electrostatic screening, and thus strengthened the exclusive removal and selective recovery of Cu(II).

A highly selective chromo- and fluorogenic dual responding fluoride sensor: naked-eye detection of F- ion in natural water via a test paper.

A highly selective and sensitive chromogenic and fluorogenic dual signal responding fluoride-sensor 1, comprising a Ru-bipy fluorophore (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and a 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone chromophore was prepared and spectroscopically characterized. Uv-vis titrations with F- revealed the appearance of a new intense absorption band centered at about 580 nm which was accompanied by a dramatic change in color from yellow to magenta, with the association constant logK being 6.71 +/- 0.04. Fluorescence spectra showed that upon addition of F-, the emission intensities enhanced significantly without any change in the excited and emission wavelengths, suggesting a potential photoinduced electronic transfer (PET) signaling transduction mechanism. An easy-to-prepare test paper which was obtained by putting a filter paper into an acetonitrile solution of 1, can detect F- in aqueous media, indicating the potential application for detecting F- in natural aqueous environments without any spectroscopic instrumentation. Spectroscopic titrations of the free ligand were also studied for comparison.

Chromium(III) complexes of D-glucosaminic acid and their effect on decreasing blood sugar in vivo.

Two chromium(III) complexes of glucosaminic acid were synthesized by neutralization and exchange reaction. The formation of 1 : 1 and 2 : 3 (Cr : glucosaminate) complexes was confirmed by elemental analyses and spectroscopic studies. The effect of the complexes on decreasing blood sugar was investigated on type-2 diabetes model rats induced by tetraoxypyrimidine. The results indicated that the effect on decreasing blood sugar was comparable to that of picolinate chromium complex (Cr(pic)(3)) currently used world wide.