Upgrading CO2 to sustainable aromatics via perovskite-mediated tandem catalysis.

The directional transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) with renewable hydrogen into specific carbon-heavy products (C6+) of high value presents a sustainable route for net-zero chemical manufacture. However, it is still challenging to simultaneously achieve high activity and selectivity due to the unbalanced CO2 hydrogenation and C-C coupling rates on complementary active sites in a bifunctional catalyst, thus causing unexpected secondary reaction. Here we report LaFeO3 perovskite-mediated directional tandem conversion of CO2 towards heavy aromatics with high CO2 conversion (> 60%), exceptional aromatics selectivity among hydrocarbons (> 85%), and no obvious deactivation for 1000 hours. This is enabled by disentangling the CO2 hydrogenation domain from the C-C coupling domain in the tandem system for Iron-based catalyst. Unlike other active Fe oxides showing wide hydrocarbon product distribution due to carbide formation, LaFeO3 by design is endowed with superior resistance to carburization, therefore inhibiting uncontrolled C-C coupling on oxide and isolating aromatics formation in the zeolite. In-situ spectroscopic evidence and theoretical calculations reveal an oxygenate-rich surface chemistry of LaFeO3, that easily escape from the oxide surface for further precise C-C coupling inside zeolites, thus steering CO2-HCOOH/H2CO-Aromatics reaction pathway to enable a high yield of aromatics.

Enhancement of anaerobic degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by electron intermediate: Performance and mechanism.

A quinone-respiring strain capable of degrading multitudinous petroleum hydrocarbons was isolated by selective medium and identified as Bacillus sp. (named as C8). Maximum 76.7% of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were degraded by the biosurfactant-mediated C8 with the aid of nitrate and electron intermediate (anthraquinone-2,6-disulphonate, AQDS). The quantitative real-time PCR results of several intracellular key functional genes suggested that AQDS could participate in the transformation of intermediates and accelerate the electron transfer in the degradation of TPH and nitrate, thereby eliminating the accumulation of nitrite and increasing the degradation efficiency of TPH. A strengthening mechanism, which promoted electron transport in the anaerobic denitrification degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by quinone-respiring strain with the aid of electron intermediate, was proposed. The influencing factors were evaluated by using response surface methodology, and the TPH removal was positively related to temperature but negatively to pH.

Acute and subchronic toxicity as well as evaluation of safety pharmacology of Galla chinensis solution.

Galla chinensis has been popularly used in traditional Chinese medicine which is beneficial for the treatment of various diseases, such as inflammation, dysentery, toxicosis and sore. However, it has not previously been evaluated for safety through systematic toxicological studies. In the present study, acute and subchronic oral toxicity studies and safety pharmacology evaluation of Galla chinensis solution (GCS) were conducted in specific pathogen-free (SPF) Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Acute administration of GCS was done as single dose from 3333 mg to 6912 mg per kg/bodyweight (bw) and subchronic toxicity study for 30 days was done by daily oral administration of GCS at doses of 500, 1500 and 2500 mg/kg body weight in SPF SD rats. The acute toxicity study showed the LD50 of GCS was greater than 5000 mg/kg. The results of sunchronic toxicity study showed that the no-observed effect level of GCS was lesser than 1500 mg/kg bw day, which suggested three times higher than that of recommended dose for clinical applications (500 mg/kg bw day). The dose at 2500 mg/kg bw day of GCS may slow down the growth of rats and lead to degeneration and necrosis of tissue cells to some extent. In the safety pharmacology study, GCS did not produce any side effects to rats in central nervous system, cardiovascular system and respiratory system. Therefore, from the results of the study presented herein, it could be concluded that the use of appropriate levels (one to three times of recommended dose for clinical applications) of GCS as a topical preparations is considered safe.

[Study on the efficacy and safety of high dose thymopentin combined with trans-artery chemoembolization for primary liver cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of high doses of thymopentin (10 mg/d) combined with transartery chemoembolization for primary liver cancer. METHODS: Fifty primary liver cancer patients were randomly divided into two groups: therapeutic and control group, and all were treated with transfemoral artery chemoembolization (TACE) with oxaliplatin 150 mg, pharmorubicin 50 mg, 5-Fu 750 mg, CF 300 mg and lipiodol 20 ml. Therapeutic group (25) were added 10 mg thymopentin daily after TACE: i.v. on dl - d5, and im on D6 - D21. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in adverse effect and toxicity such as naupathia,fever, swirl, asthenia observed between two groups (P < 0.05). No difference in either pre- or post-chemotherapy peripheral blood examination and biochemical assay was found between two groups (P > 0.05). In control group, CD4+ cell was 37.92% +/- 8.71% in pre-treatment, which decreased to 29.16% +/- 8.21% in post-treatment with a significant difference (P < 0.01), whereas there was no evident difference in CD4+ cell between pre-treatment and post-treatment in the treatment group. CONCLUSION: Transartery chemoembolization combined with high dose of thymopentin in the treatment for primary liver cancer is effective and safe, and can significantly improve the immune function and the chemotherapy tolerance.