2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) micropollutant herbicide removing from water using granular and powdered activated carbons: a comparison applied for water treatment and health safety.

Activated carbons are well-known porous materials as an effective adsorbent used for the removal of emerging contaminants, such as herbicides, which are increasingly present in water bodies. Most water treatment plants, specially in Brazil, are unable to completely remove such contaminants by the conventional process and advanced treatment using activated carbons is required. The aim of this paper was to verify the influence of the activated carbons granulometry and specific surface area on the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicide removal efficiency using distilled-deionized water and filtered water collected from a conventional Water Treatment Plant. Commercial activated carbons samples used in this work were obtained from two different manufacturers. Activated carbons were analyzed by the specific surface area, pore size and volume distribution, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared and x-ray spectroscopy, moisture, volatile matter and ash contents. Batch adsorption isotherms experiments were used and performed by Langmuir and Freundlich models. Granular and powdered activated carbons removed over 99% of 2,4-D in distilled water and near to 99% using filtered water. The activated carbons evaluated in this work presented high performance and played a key role in water treatment by removing 2,4-D herbicide, ensuring the protection of human health and the ecosystem.

Coumarin/ß-Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes Promote Acceleration and Improvement of Wound Healing.

Coumarins have great pharmacotherapeutic potential, presenting several biological and pharmaceutical applications, like antibiotic, fungicidal, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-HIV, and healing activities, among others. These molecules are practically insoluble in water, and for biological applications, it became necessary to complex them with cyclodextrins (CDs), which influence their bioavailability in the target organism. In this work, we studied two coumarins, and it was possible to conclude that there were structural differences between 4,7-dimethyl-2H-chromen-2-one (DMC) and 7-methoxy-4-methyl-2H-chromen-2-one (MMC)/ß-CD that were solubilized in ethanol, frozen, and lyophilized (FL) and the mechanical mixtures (MM). In addition, the inclusion complex formation improved the solubility of DMC and MMC in an aqueous medium. According to the data, the inclusion complexes were formed and are more stable at a molar ratio of 2:1 coumarin/ß-CD, and hydrogen bonds along with π-π stacking interactions are responsible for the better stability, especially for (MMC)2@ß-CD. In vivo wound healing studies in mice showed faster re-epithelialization and the best deposition of collagen with the (DMC)2@ß-CD (FL) and (MMC)2@ß-CD (FL) inclusion complexes, demonstrating clearly that they have potential in wound repair. Therefore, (DMC)2@ß-CD (FL) deserves great attention because it presented excellent results, reducing the granulation tissue and mast cell density and improving collagen remodeling. Finally, the protein binding studies suggested that the anti-inflammatory activities might exert their biological function through the inhibition of MEK, providing the possibility of development of new MEK inhibitors.