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Aqueous amine-based CO2 capture is considered as the most mature and applicable CO2 capture method for post-combustion. With the CO2 capture process running for a long time, the degradation of aqu...

Regarding waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) as a secondary resource for recycling precious metals such as gold has become a worldwide consensus to conserve mineral resources, sustainably utilize...

A new sulfolane/secondary amine biphasic absorbent, sulfolane/2-methylaminoethanol (MAE) solution, was developed for postcombustion CO2 capture (PCC). Surprisingly, using a 4M/5M sulfolane/MAE solu...

The construction of superstable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for selective gas uptake is urgently demanded but remains a great challenge. Herein, a unique bifunctional deformed [Ga3O(COO)6] inorganic secondary building unit (SBU) generated from the desymmetrical evolution of typical triangular prismatic trinuclear cluster was first introduced, which was extended by an isosceles triangular organic linker to produce a robust Ga-MOF (SNNU-63). Remarkably, SNNU-63 can stabilize in water at 25 °C for 96 h and at 80 °C for more than 24 h, which surpasses nearly all other Ga-MOFs. The combined effects of open metal sites and hydrophobic pore environment provided by deformed [Ga3O] SBUs render SNNU-63 with high C2H2 storage capacity and efficient C2H2 and natural gas purification performance. The ideal adsorbed solution theory calculation, column breakthrough tests, and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that SNNU-63 is a potential material for addressing the challenge of C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/CH4 mixture separation under ambient conditions.

The separation of a mixture of C2H2 and CO2 is a great challenge due to their similar molecular sizes and shapes. Al-based metal-organic frameworks (Al-MOFs) have great promise for gas separation applications due to their light weight, high stability, and low cost. However, the cultivation of suitable Al-MOF single crystals is extremely difficult and has limited their explorations up to now. Since In, Ga, and Al are all 3p-block metal elements, a systematic application of the periodic law to investigate 3p-MOFs will undoubtedly help in the understanding and development of worthy Al-MOF materials. Herein, we report the design of a robust 3p metal-organic framework platform (SNNU-150) and the systematic regulation of C2H2/CO2 separation by open 3p-block metal sites. X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis reveals that SNNU-150 is a 3,6-connected 3D framework consisting of [M3O(COO)6] trinuclear secondary building units (SBUs) and tritopic nitrilotribenzoate (NTB) linkers. Small {[M3O(COO)6]4(NTB)6} tetrahedral cages and extra-large {[M3O(COO)6]10(NTB)14} polyhedral cages connect with each other to generate a hierarchically porous architecture. These 3p-MOFs present very high water, thermal, and chemical stability, especially for SNNU-150-Al, which can maintain its framework at 85 °C in water for 24 h and in a room-temperature environment for more than 30 days. IAST calculations, breakthrough experiments, and GCMC simulations all show that SNNU-150 MOFs have top-level C2H2/CO2 separation performance and follow the order Al-MOF > Ga-MOF > In-MOF.

In the past decades, insulin delivery systems have been widely developed for diabetes treatment. Though a few works have investigated polymeric micelles with glucose and H2O2 dual-responsiveness fo...

The sulfolane was, surprisingly, found to be a universal phase splitting solvent in a serial of aqueous primary alkanolamine solution for CO2 removal, the reaction product of carbamate and hydrophilicity of amine can be the key factor for CO2 triggering phase change, also the phase change can have significant effect on CO2 absorption performance. To comprehensively understand the effect of phase change on absorption, stripping and phase separation performance of primary alkanolamine solution for CO2 capture, MEA sulfolane-based solution was chosen as typical biphasic system for investigation. First, the experimental results revealed that phase change can dramatically decrease the absorption rate and lead to less CO2 capacity in an absorption process. Second, the enriched MEA in separated solution can substantially decrease the energy consumption for CO2 stripping, but exorbitant concentration of MEA can significantly reduce the CO2 removal efficiency in a quasi-cycle of absorption and desorption. Third, t...

Developing highly efficient catalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OER) is a key step for rechargeable metal–oxygen batteries and water splitting. Usually, binary NiFe or ternary NiCoFe nano-alloys are used as the OER catalysts. Herein, combining the precursor alloy design with chemical etching, a simple dealloying route is developed to controllably incorporate five or more nonprecious metals into one nanostructured alloy with a naturally oxidized surface, that is, nanoporous high entropy alloys (np-HEAs) covered with high-entropy (oxy)hydroxides (HEOs). It is found that the alloy composition plays a dominant role in the OER activity enhancement with the np-AlNiCoFeX (X = Mo, Nb, Cr) combination showing the highest activity. Forming quinary HEAs also greatly enhances the electrochemical cycling stabilities compared with the ternary and quaternary counterparts. The result indicates the significance of synergistically incorporating five or more metal elements in one single-phase nanostructure, which prov...

Lignans found in the botanical extract of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Sambucus williamsii Hance exhibit protective effects on trabecular bone mass and mechanical strength of cortical bone of ovariectomized rats. A novel approach was adapted using HSQC NMR methods to estimate the total amount of these bioactives in a complex mixture. It was determined that lignans possessing the hydroxy- or oxybenzyl carbon signal were bioactive. These compounds were readily identified and assigned in a defined region of the 13C NMR spectrum at 80-90 ppm and calculated as 10-15% of the lignan-rich fraction of S. williamsii. Comparison of the peak heights of the oxybenzyl-substituted carbon resonance signals of the lignans in the botanical extract was made against those of a standard lignan pinoresinol. The application of this simple and reliable NMR method can be used to estimate amounts of related compounds and chemical families in complex mixtures or botanical extracts and offers measurable scientific evidence in quality processes. This is of particular importance for registration requirements of botanical drugs and in complex mixtures of botanical extracts.

Protein drugs play a significant role in the treatment of many diseases such as diabetes, cancers, and immune system diseases. Though polymeric nanocarriers have been designed to delivery protein drugs for prolonging circulation lifetime and providing stimuli-triggered release, problems are still often encountered including lower loading efficiency and capacity as well as poor circulation stability because of the weak interaction between protein drugs and nanocarriers. Herein, we described a new kind of bifunctional polymeric nanogels for efficient loading and glucose-triggered release of insulin. Biodegradable poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) based nanogels was synthesized with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) and phenylboronic acid (PBA) as functional groups and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as crosslinker. The NTA groups could specifically bind imidazole-containing protein drugs such as insulin via chelated zinc ions, leading an efficient loading of insulin. The structure, morphology, and drug ...

Nowadays, gene transfer technology has been widely used to promote endothelialization of artificial vascular grafts. However, the lack of gene vectors with low cytotoxicity and targeting function still remains a pressing challenge. Herein, polyethylenimine (PEI, 1.8 kDa or 10 kDa) was conjugated to an amphiphilic and biodegradable diblock copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (mPEG-b-PLGA) to prepare mPEG-b-PLGA-g-PEI copolymers with the aim to develop gene vectors with low cytotoxicity while high transfection efficiency. The micelles were prepared from mPEG-b-PLGA-g-PEI copolymers by self-assembly method. Furthermore, Cys-Arg-Glu-Asp-Val-Trp (CREDVW) peptide was linked to micelle surface to enable the micelles with special recognition for endothelial cells (ECs). In addition, pEGFP-ZNF580 plasmids were condensed into these CREDVW-linked micelles to enhance the proliferation of ECs. These CREDVW-linked micelle/pEGFP-ZNF580 complexes exhibited low cytotoxicity by MTT assay. The cell transfection results demonstrated that pEGFP-ZNF580 could be transferred into ECs efficiently by these micelles. The results of Western blot analysis showed that the relative ZNF580 protein level in transfected ECs increased to 76.9%. The rapid migration of transfected ECs can be verified by wound healing assay. These results indicated that CREDVW-linked micelles could be a suitable gene transfer vector with low cytotoxicity and high transfection efficiency, which has great potential for rapid endothelialization of artificial blood vessels.