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The Prototethyan Ocean has been suggested as an Early Paleozoic Ocean developed at the Gondwana northern margin. However, its spatial pattern, subduction style and closure time in SW Yunnan and SE Asia still remain unknown. The Prototethyan evolution in SW Yunnan and SE Asia and its internal connection with the South China Kwangsian (Ordo-Silurian) intracontinental orogenesis are also poorly constrained. By summarizing and analyzing the Early Paleozoic geological records in the Sibumasu and Indochina blocks, the eastern South China and SW Japan, this paper proposes the existence of a giant Ordo-Silurian igneous belt along the Gondwana northern margin. A preliminary limitation has been obtained regarding the source nature and migration pattern of the igneous belt. Our data allow us to propose a model of the Early Paleozoic Andean-type active continental margin along the East Gondwana northern margin. This is the foundation to determine the southward subduction of the southern branch of the eastern Prototethyan Ocean underneath the Sibumasu and Indochina blocks along the Yunxian-Menghai (SW Yunnan)-Thailand Peninsula and the Tam Ky-Phouc Son suture in Central Vietnam, respectively, and the eastward linkage with the Early Paleozoic Osaka subduction zone in SW Japan across the peripheral Sanya area. These data synthetically indicate an easterly-diachronous andpropagating Andean-type Cambrian (Furongian)-Silurian (Llandovery) orogenesis along the Gondwana northern margin from Nepal, NW India, South Tibet, Qiangtang to Central Vietnam across South Indochina and Sibumasu. This paper reconstructs the Early Paleozoic locations of the Sibumasu and Indochina fragments, as well as SW Japan and South China continent in the Gondwana northern margin, and proposes the far-field effect on the South China Kwangsian intra-continental orogenesis from the subduction of the Early Paleozoic Prototethyan southern branch.

A novel silver-based dihydric alcohol extractant was substituted for ionic liquids to enrich methyl linolenate (C18-3) from tallow seed oil methyl ester in this study. The interactions among dihydric alcohol, Ag(I) and C18-3 were explored by FT-IR spectroscopy. The effects of dihydric alcohol structure, carrier Ag(I) concentration, temperature and initial feed concentration on extraction yield and selectivity were reported. The good extraction performance was achieved by 1,4-butanediol containing AgBF4. The complexation of Ag(I) with C18-3 was dominant in extraction operation rather than physical partition. Furthermore, a multi-step reverse extraction method was proposed to obtain C18-3 product and regenerate the extractant. 1-Hexene as the stripping phase can facilitate C18-3 reverse extraction. The content of C18-3 in the product was up to 93.36%, and the yield was 73.76%. This work opened a new route for the utilization of the dihydric alcohol properties to manipulate the carrier efficiency for extracting unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters at a lower cost.

An innovative ball-mill reactor was designed and made to produce dimer acid continuously. Mixing and polymerization in the constructed reactor were intensified by the rotation of the cylinder and mechanical actions of small beads. A total of 3 baffles were set up to enhance radial turbulence, and 10 clapboards were sequentially installed to separate the whole reactor into 11 small reactors in series in order to make it close to a plug-flow reactor. The relationship between reaction performance and the inner components (baffles and clapboards), ball-milling medium, rotating speed, wall temperature and residence time were investigated. The crude product containing 50.6% dimer acid was obtained under the optimal conditions (zirconia beads as ball-milling medium, wall temperature 300 °C, residence time 2.16 h, rotating speed 20 rpm). Ferric and nickel ion from the reactor and the uneven residence time distribution resulted in low dimer acid production yield.

Methyl linolenate was separated from its analogues by a new extraction system constructed by solvent, imidazolium based ionic liquids and cuprous salt. Firstly, the effect of ionic liquid on the dissolution of CuCl in acetonitrile, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), methanol and water was evaluated by visual observation. [C4Mim][Cl] can improve the dissolution of CuCl in acetonitrile. Then, for the new system as acetonitrile-ILs-CuCl, extraction equilibrium, distribution ratio and selectivity of methyl linolenate and its analogues were determined by gas chromatography analysis and the mass balance. The extraction time, IL structures and CuCl concentrations were investigated. Distribution ratio decreased slightly, but selectivity increased significantly with the addition of CuCl, [C4Mim][Cl] or [C4Vim][NTF2] into acetonitrile. [C4Vim][NTF2] had higher selectivity than [C4Mim][Cl]. But the selectivity of the system combining CuCl with [C4Vim][NTF2] was much lower than with [C4Mim][Cl]. For the CuCl-[C4Mim][Cl]-acetonitrile, the extraction efficiency was better than CuCl-acetonitrile, increasing Cu+concentration effectively improved the separation selectivity when ratio of CuCl/[C4Mim][Cl] was less than 1. Compared with previous aqueous AgNO3extractions, the method of using CuCl is a much cheaper and practical way to enrich unsaturated fatty acid.

A feasible method for treatment of wastewater generated during epoxy methyl ester production was provided in this study, which consisted of four parts, i.e., neutralization, heat pump distillation, evaporation crystallization, and adsorption. For this treatment process, adsorption was a key step. The major pollutants of epoxy methyl ester wastewater after neutralization and distillation were determined as methanol, ethyl alcohol and epoxy propane. Activated carbon was used as an adsorbent for the wastewater treatment and the adsorption behavior was mainly studied. The adsorption experiments of methanol as the model compound to actual wastewater using virgin activated carbons (VAC) and HNO3modified activated carbons (MAC) were carried out. FTIR and Boehm titration results indicated the increased oxidation groups were obtained through modification. Several isotherm and kinetic models were adopted to fit the experimental data by non-linear regression method. Results showed that Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic models can well describe the adsorption behavior. Various thermodynamic parameters such as standard free energy (ΔG0), enthalpy (ΔH0), and entropy (ΔS0) showed that the adsorption of methanol onto carbon was favored at lower temperature. In addition, breakthrough curves were determined using the column adsorption, which were fitted well by the Thomas model. Furthermore, the COD of initial actual wastewater (about 35000 mg/L) was significantly reduced to 293 mg/L after treatment. Finally, regeneration experiments demonstrated the potential of this method.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery is one of the most attractive candidates for the next-generation energy storage system. However, the intrinsic insulating nature of sulfur and the notorious polysulfide shuttle are the major obstacles, which hinder the commercial application of Li–S battery. Confining sulfur into conductive porous carbon matrices with designed polarized surfaces is regarded as a promising and effective strategy to overcome above issues. Herein, we propose to use microalgaes (Schizochytrium sp.) as low-cost, renewable carbon/nitrogen precursors and biological templates to synthesize N-doped porous carbon microspheres (NPCMs). These rational designed NPCMs can not only render the sulfur-loaded NPCMs (NPCSMs) composites with high electronic conductivity and sulfur content, but also greatly suppress the diffusion of polysulfides by strongly physical and chemical adsorptions. As a result, NPCSMs cathode demonstrates a superior reversible capacity (1030.7 mA h g–1) and remarkable capacity retention (91%) at 0.1 A g–1after 100 cycles. Even at an extremely high current density of 5 A g–1, NPCSMs still can deliver a satisfactory discharge capacity of 692.3 mAh g–1. This work reveals a sustainable and effective biosynthetic strategy to fabricate N-doped porous carbon matrices for high performance sulfur cathode in Li–S battery, as well as offers a fascinating possibility to rationally design and synthesize novel carbon-based composites.

Hollow porous micro/nanostructures with high surface area and shell permeability have attracted tremendous attention. Particularly, the synthesis and structural tailoring of diverse hollow porous materials is regarded as a crucial step toward the realization of high-performance electrode materials, which has several advantages including a large contact area with electrolyte, a superior structural stability, and a short transport path for Li+ions. Meanwhile, owing to the inexpensive, abundant, environmentally benign, and renewable biological resources provided by nature, great efforts have been devoted to understand and practice the biotemplating technology, which has been considered as an effective strategy to achieve morphology-controllable materials with structural specialty, complexity, and related unique properties. Herein, we are inspired by the natural microalgae with its special features (easy availability, biological activity, and carbon sources) to develop a green and facile biotemplating method to fabricate monodisperse MnO/C microspheres for lithium-ion batteries. Due to the unique hollow porous structure in which MnO nanoparticles were tightly embedded into a porous carbon matrix and form a penetrative shell, MnO/C microspheres exhibited high reversible specific capacity of 700 mAh g–1at 0.1 A g–1, excellent cycling stability with 94% capacity retention, and enhanced rate performance of 230 mAh g–1at 3 A g–1. This green, sustainable, and economical strategy will extend the scope of biotemplating synthesis for exploring other functional materials in various structure-dependent applications such as catalysis, gas sensing, and energy storage.

Cisplatin has been widely accepted as one of the most efficient anticancer drugs for decades. However, the mechanisms for the cytotoxic effects of cisplatin are still not fully understood. Cisplatin primarily targets DNA, resulting in the formation of DNA double strand breaks and eventually causing cell death. In this study, we applied two-dimensional electrophoresis coupled with LC–MS/MS to analyze the nuclear proteome of HeLa cells treated with cisplatin, in an effort to uncover new mechanistic clues regarding the cellular response to cisplatin. A total of 19 proteins were successfully identified, and these proteins are involved in a variety of basal metabolic and biological processes in cells, including biosynthesis, cell cycle, glycolysis and apoptosis. Six were related to the regulation of mRNA splicing, and we therefore asked whether the Fasgene might undergo alternative splicing following cisplatin treatment. This proved to be the case, as the splicing forms of Faswere modified in cisplatin-treated HeLa cells. This work provides novel information, from the perspective of the nuclear response, for understanding the cytotoxicity caused by cisplatin-induced DNA damage.