Raman spectroscopic study of antioxidant pigments from cup corals Tubastraea spp.

Chemical investigation of nonindigenous Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis by Raman spectroscopy resulted in the identification of carotenoids and indolic alkaloids. Comparison of Raman data obtained for the in situ and crude extracts has shown the potential of the technique for characterizing samples which are metabolic fingerprints, by means of band analysis. Raman bands at ca. 1520, 1160, and 1005 cm(-1) assigned to ν1(C═C), ν2(C-C), and ρ3(C-CH3) modes were attributed to astaxanthin, and the band at 1665 cm(-1) could be assigned to the ν(C-N), ν(C-O), and ν(C-C) coupled mode of the iminoimidazolinone from aplysinopsin. The antioxidant activity of the crude extracts has also been demonstrated, suggesting a possible role of these classes of compounds in the studied corals.

Controlled reduction of red mud waste to produce active systems for environmental applications: heterogeneous Fenton reaction and reduction of Cr(VI).

In this work, controlled reduction of red mud with H(2) was used to produce active systems for two different environmental applications, i.e. the heterogeneous Fenton reaction and the reduction of Cr(VI). Mössbauer, powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses and scanning electron microscopy analyses showed that at different temperatures, i.e. 300, 400, 500 and 600 degrees C, H(2) reduces red mud to different phases, mainly Fe(3)O(4), Fe(0)/Fe(3)O(4) and Fe(0). These Fe phases are dispersed on Al, Si and Ti oxides present in the red mud and show high reactivity towards two environmental applications, i.e. the heterogeneous Fenton reaction and the reduction of Cr(VI). Reduction with H(2) at 400 degrees C showed the best results for the oxidation of the model dye methylene blue with H(2)O(2) at neutral pH due to the presence of the composite Fe(0)/Fe(3)O(4). The reduced red mud at 500-600 degrees C produced Fe(0) highly active for the reduction of Cr(VI) in aqueous medium. Another feature of these red mud based system is that after deactivation due to extensive use they can be completely regenerated by simple treatment with H(2).

Novel active heterogeneous Fenton system based on Fe3-xMxO4 (Fe, Co, Mn, Ni): the role of M2+ species on the reactivity towards H2O2 reactions.

In this work, the effect of incorporation of M2+ species, i.e. Co2+, Mn2+ and Ni2+, into the magnetite structure to increase the reactivity towards H2O2 reactions was investigated. The following magnetites Fe3-xMnxO4, Fe3-xCoxO4 and Fe3-xNixO4 and the iron oxides Fe3O4, gamma-Fe2O3 and alpha-Fe2O3 were prepared and characterized by Mössbauer spectroscopy, XRD, BET surface area, magnetization and chemical analyses. The obtained results showed that the M2+ species at the octahedral site in the magnetite strongly affects the reactivity towards H2O2, i.e. (i) the peroxide decomposition to O2 and (ii) the oxidation of organic molecules, such as the dye methylene blue and chlorobenzene in aqueous medium. Experiments with maghemite, gamma-Fe2O3 and hematite, alpha-Fe2O3, showed very low activities compared to Fe3O4, suggesting that the presence of Fe2+ in the oxide plays an important role for the activation of H2O2. The presence of Co or Mn in the magnetite structure produced a remarkable increase in the reactivity, whereas Ni inhibited the H2O2 reactions. The obtained results suggest a surface initiated reaction involving Msurf2+ (Fe, Co or Mn), producing HO radicals, which can lead to two competitive reactions, i.e. the decomposition of H2O2 or the oxidation of organics present in the aqueous medium. The unique effect of Co and Mn is discussed in terms of the thermodynamically favorable Cosurf3+ and Mnsurf3+ reduction by Femagnetite2+ regenerating the active species M2+.

Efficient use of Fe metal as an electron transfer agent in a heterogeneous Fenton system based on Fe0/Fe3O4 composites.

In this work a novel heterogeneous Fenton system based on Fe(0)/Fe3O4 composites is described. The composites with several Fe(0)/Fe3O4 ratios were prepared by two different methods, i.e. mechanical alloying of Fe(0) and Fe3O4 powders and controlled reduction of Fe3O4 with H2. Reaction studies and detailed Conversion Electron Mössbauer surface characterization of the composites Fe(0)/Fe3O4, Fe(0), Fe3O4, alpha-Fe2O3 and gamma-Fe2O3 suggested that Fe2+surf species are essential to produce an active Fenton system. Kinetic studies for the oxidation of the dye methylene blue, used as an organic model molecule, and for the peroxide decomposition suggest that the reactions proceed via HO* radicals generated from Fe2+surf species and H2O2 in a Fenton like mechanism. The increase in activity caused by the addition of Fe(0) is discussed in terms of a creation of Fe2+surf species during the preparation of the composite and by an electron transfer mechanism from Fe(0) to Fe3+surf during the Fenton reaction to regenerate the Fe2+surf active species.