One-pot synthesis of brewer's spent grain-supported superabsorbent polymer for highly efficient uranium adsorption from wastewater.

High-efficient and fast adsorption of uranium is important to reduce the hazards caused by the uranium contamination of water environment due to the increased human activities. Herein, brewer's spent grain (BSG)-supported superabsorbent polymers (SAP) with different cross-linking densities are prepared as cheap and eco-friendly adsorbents for the first time via one-pot swelling and graft polymerization. A 7 wt% NaOH solution is used to swell BSG before grafting and subsequently neutralize the acrylic acid to control the reaction rate without producing alkaline wastewater. Compared with the traditional methods, swelling improves the grafting density and the utilization of raw materials due to the increased disorder degree of the BSG fibers. This results in the grafting of abundant carboxyl and amide groups onto the BSG backbone, forming a strongly hydrophilic polymer network of the BSG-SAP. Compared with the reference polymers without BSG, BSG-SAP presents higher adsorption capacity and enhanced reusability. The highly cross-linked BSG-SAP (BSG-SAP-H) shows an outstanding adsorption capacity of U(VI) (1465 mg/g at pH0 = 4.6), a fast adsorption rate (81% of equilibrium adsorption capacity in 15 min), and a high selectivity in the presence of competing ions. Adsorption mechanism studies reveal the involvement of amide groups, a bidentate binding structure between UO22+ and the carboxyl groups, and a cation exchange between Na+ and UO22+. More importantly, the adsorption capacity of BSG-SAP-H reaches 254.4 mg/g in the fixed-bed column experiment at a low initial concentration (c0(U) = 30 mg/L) and keeps 80% of the adsorption capacity after four cycles, indicating a great potential for uranium removal from wastewater. This work shows a suitable approach to explore the untreated biomass to prepare SAP with enhanced adsorption performance via a general and low-cost strategy.

Chitin-based renewable materials from marine sponges for uranium adsorption.

Marine sponges of the order Verongida form three-dimensional networks of fibrous chitin, which can easily be extracted. In the hydrated state, these networks are flexible, mechanically stable and can be cut or pressed into any desired form. Here, we show for the first time that chitin-based networks of sponge origin are useful for effective uranium adsorption. They adsorb uranium from solution with a higher adsorption capacity than many other chitinous sorbents. Up to 288 mg/g could be achieved. Solid-state NMR, infrared, and Raman spectroscopy indicated that the uranyl is bound to the chitin by weak interactions. 90% of the uranyl could be desorbed using diluted hydrochloric acid. Uranium adsorption and desorption did not result in any destruction of the chitin-based material.

One-dimensional polymers based on silver(I) cations and organometallic cyclo-P3 ligand complexes.

The synthesis and characterization of the first supramolecular aggregates incorporating the organometallic cyclo-P3 ligand complexes [CpRMo(CO)2(eta3-P3)] (CpR=Cp (C5H5; 1a), Cp* (C5(CH3)5; 1b)) as linking units is described. The reaction of the Cp derivative 1a with AgX (X=CF3SO3, Al{OC(CF3)3}4) yields the one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymers [Ag{CpMo(CO)2(mu,eta3:eta1:eta1-P3)}2]n[Al{OC(CF3)3}4]n (2) and [Ag{CpMo(CO)2(mu,eta3:eta1:eta1-P3)}3]n[X]n (X=CF3SO3 (3a), Al{OC(CF3)3}4 (3b)). The solid-state structures of these polymers were revealed by X-ray crystallography and shown to comprise polycationic chains well-separated from the weakly coordinating anions. If AgCF3SO3 is used, polymer 3a is obtained regardless of reactant stoichiometry whereas in the case of Ag[Al{OC(CF3)3}4], reactant stoichiometry plays a decisive role in determining the structure and composition of the resulting product. Moreover, polymers 3a, b are the first examples of homoleptic silver complexes in which Ag(I) centers are found octahedrally coordinated to six phosphorus atoms. The Cp* derivative 1b reacts with Ag[Al{OC(CF3)3}4] to yield the 1D polymer [Ag{Cp*Mo(CO)2(mu,eta3:eta2:eta1-P3)}2]n[Al{OC(CF3)3}4]n (4), the crystal structure of which differs from that of polymer 2 in the coordination mode of the cyclo-P3 ligands: in 2, the Ag+ cations are bridged by the cyclo-P3 ligands in a eta1:eta1 (edge bridging) fashion whereas in 4, they are bridged exclusively in a eta2:eta1 mode (face bridging). Thus, one third of the phosphorus atoms in 2 are not coordinated to silver while in 4, all phosphorus atoms are engaged in coordination with silver. Comprehensive spectroscopic and analytical measurements revealed that the polymers 2, 3a, b, and 4 depolymerize extensively upon dissolution and display dynamic behavior in solution, as evidenced in particular by variable temperature 31P NMR spectroscopy. Solid-state 31P magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR measurements, performed on the polymers 2, 3b, and 4, demonstrated that the polymers 2 and 3b also display dynamic behavior in the solid state at room temperature. The X-ray crystallographic characterisation of 1b is also reported.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase oligomerization studied by a combination of 15N NMR relaxation and 129Xe NMR. Effect of buffer containing arginine and glutamic acid.

15N NMR relaxation and 129Xe NMR chemical shift measurements offer complementary information to study weak protein-protein interactions. They have been applied to study the oligomerization equilibrium of a low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatase in the presence of 50 mM arginine and 50 mM glutamic acid. These experimental conditions are shown to enhance specific protein-protein interactions while decreasing nonspecific aggregation. In addition, 129Xe NMR chemical shifts become selective reporters of one particular oligomer in the presence of arginine and glutamic acid, indicating that a specific Xe binding site is created in the oligomerization process. It is suggested that the multiple effects of arginine and glutamic acid are related to their effective excluded volume that favors specific protein association and the destabilization of partially unfolded forms that preferentially interact with xenon and are responsible for nonspecific protein aggregation.

Solid-state 31P NMR spectroscopy of microcrystals of the Ras protein and its effector loop mutants: comparison between crystalline and solution state.

Cycling between a GTP bound "on" state and a GDP bound "off" state, guanine nucleotide-binding (GNB) proteins act as molecular switches. The switching process and the interaction with effectors, GTPase-activating proteins, and guanosine nucleotide-exchange factors is accompanied by pronounced conformational changes of the switch regions of the GNB proteins. The aim of the present contribution is to correlate conformational changes observed by liquid-state NMR with solid-state (31)P NMR data and with the results of X-ray crystallography. Crystalline wild-type Ras complexed with GTP analogs such as GppCH(2)p and GppNHp could be prepared. At low temperatures, two different signals were found for the gamma-phosphate group of GppNHp bound to wild-type Ras. This behavior indicates the existence of two different conformations of the molecule in the crystalline state as it is found in solution but not by X-ray crystallography. In contrast to the GppNHp complex, the two separate gamma-phosphate signals could not be observed for GppCH(2)p bound to wild-type Ras. However, an increasing linewidth at low temperature indicates the presence of an exchange process. The results obtained for the wild-type protein are compared with the behavior of GppNHp complexes of the effector loop mutants Ras(T35S) and Ras(T35A). These mutants prefer a conformation similar to the GDP bound "off" state.

Self-assembly of highly phosphorylated silaffins and their function in biosilica morphogenesis.

Silaffins are uniquely modified peptides that have been implicated in the biogenesis of diatom biosilica. A method that avoids the harsh anhydrous hydrogen fluoride treatment commonly used to dissolve biosilica allows the extraction of silaffins in their native state. The native silaffins carry further posttranslational modifications in addition to their polyamine moieties. Each serine residue was phosphorylated, and this high level of phosphorylation is essential for biological activity. The zwitterionic structure of native silaffins enables the formation of supramolecular assemblies. Time-resolved analysis of silica morphogenesis in vitro detected a plastic silaffin-silica phase, which may represent a building material for diatom biosilica.