Nano and micro architectured cues as smart materials to mitigate recalcitrant pharmaceutical pollutants from wastewater.

Pharmaceuticals have been recognized for saving billions of lives, but they also appear as a novel group of environmental pollutants. The presence of pharmaceutically active residues in seawater, surface water, wastewater treatment plants, sludges, and soils has been widely reported. Their persistence in the environment for extended durations exerts various adverse consequences, such as gene toxicity, hormonal interference, antibiotic resistance, sex organs imposition, and many others. Various methodologies have been envisioned for their removal from the aqueous media. Different processes have been restricted due to high cost, inefficient removal, generation of toxic materials, and high capital requirement. The employment of nanostructured materials to mitigate pharmaceutical contaminants has been increasing during the last decades. The adsorptive nanomaterials have a high surface area, low cost, eco-friendliness, and high affinity for inorganic and organic molecules. In this review, we have documented the rising concerns of environmental pharmaceutical contamination and their remediation by applications of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials could be a robust candidate for the removal of an array of environmental contaminants in water.

Metal-organic frameworks based adsorbents: A review from removal perspective of various environmental contaminants from wastewater.

Rapidly increasing water contamination has turned into a major threat globally. The pollutants such as organic and inorganic compounds, heavy metals, and biological organisms are among the major contributor to water pollution. Therefore, the removal of these contaminants has attracted the researchers a lot. Various methodologies are being carried out for the purpose. Among them, the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with several active sites and tailorable porous architectures as adsorbents or photocatalytic removal agents is a fast-growing class of coordination chemistry to remove these agents from water. To date, numerous approaches dealing with water treatment including conservative and advanced technologies have been presented. This article thoroughly reviews the application of MOFs toward how to remove the toxic agents from water. The leading objective is to present up-to-date information and references regarding MOFs based materials toward wastewater treatment applications.

Environmental threatening concern and efficient removal of pharmaceutically active compounds using metal-organic frameworks as adsorbents.

An alarming number of contaminants of emerging concern, including active residues from pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), are increasingly being introduced in water systems and environmental matrices due to unavoidable outcomes of modern-day lifestyle. Most of the PPCPs based contaminants are not completely eliminated during the currently used water/wastewater treatment processes. Therefore, highly selective and significant removal of PPCPs from environmental matrices remains a scientific challenge. In recent years, a wide range of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-based nanocomposites have been designed and envisioned for environmental remediation applications. MOF-derived novel cues had shown an adsorptive capability for the extraction and removal of an array of trace constituents in environmental samples. Noteworthy features such as substantial surface area, size, dispersibility, tunable structure, and repeated use capability provide MOFs-derived platform a superiority over in-practice conventional adsorptive materials. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of the efficient removal or mitigation of various categories of PPCPs by diverse types of MOF-derived adsorbents with suitable examples. The growing research investigations in this direction paves the way for designing more efficient porous nanomaterials that would be useful for the elimination of PPCPs, and separation perspectives.

Development, influencing parameters and interactions of bioplasticizers: An environmentally friendlier alternative to petro industry-based sources.

The current industrial revolution emphasized the necessity to use environmentally friendlier sources and strategies to meet the bio-based economy challenges of the modern world. Owing to the finiteness, human health and environmental impacts of fossil resources, current research efforts are switched to search and develop renewable, sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives of commercial plasticizers to meet the green agenda to establish a green society. The substitution of petroleum-based plasticizers with bioplasticizers offers noteworthy advantages, such as recyclability, biodegradability, high lubricant power, low diffusion coefficients in the polymeric matrix and very low volatility. Moreover, bioplasticizers provide the most suitable platform due to their global availability and industrially-relevant applications. Numerous parameters such as solubility, polarity, and structural compatibility are considered important and can influence the designing of efficient plasticizers. In this context, a plethora of research has given their structural attributes along with their compatibility with different elastomers and plastics. Herein, the valorization of bioplasticizers in several industrial and biotechnological processes is presented with suitable examples. Additionally, it highlights the insight of selection criteria and generalities concerning plasticization theories. A brief discussion is also given on the mechanism of plasticization and modifications, which are being made in the current industrial practices. The description extends towards the design of effective plasticizers with their dependence on structure and how we can improve their performance to the polymer industry.