Recent Advances and Perspective on Design and Synthesis of Electrode Materials for Electrochemical Sensing of Heavy Metals

The increase in release of toxic heavy metals into natural water attracts much attention due to its devastating effect on ecology and human health.The design and implementation of green electrode materials is pivotal for improving the electrochemical performance of in situ heavy metal monitoring.

Recent Advances on the Development of Functional Materials in Microbial Fuel Cells:From Fundamentals to Challenges and Outlooks

Microbial fuel cells(MFCs),as a sustainable and promising technology to solve both environmental pollution and energy shortage,have captured tremendous attention.The conversion efficiency of chemical energy contained in organic waste or wastewater to electricity via microbial metabolism strongly depends on the performance of each functional unit,including the anode,cathode and separator/membrane used in MFCs.Therefore,significant attention has been paid toward developing advanced functional materials to enhance the performance of each unit or provide new featured functions.This review paper provides a comprehensive review on recent achievements and advances in the modification and development of functional materials for MFC systems,including 1)the development of functional anode materials for enhanced microbial compatibilities as well as electron transfer capabilities,2)the development of cost-effective separators/membranes such as ion exchange membrane,porous membrane,polymer electrolyte membrane and composite membrane,and 3)the development of functional cathode catalysts to decrease the over-potential and enhance the electrocatalytic efficiency for oxygen reduction reaction in order to substitute the common costly Pt catalyst.The challenges and outlooks of functional materials for MFC applications are also discussed.

A potential threat from biodegradable microplastics: mechanism of cadmium adsorption and desorption in the simulated gastrointestinal environment

It has been demonstrated that microplastics (MPs) can accumulate heavy metals from the environment and transfer them into organisms via the food chain. However, adsorption and desorption capacities for biodegradable MPs relative to those for conventional MPs remain poorly understood. In this study, cadmium (Cd(II)) adsorption and desorption characteristics of polylactic acid (PLA), a typical biodegradable MP, were investigated. Two conventional MPs, i.e., polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA) were used for comparison. The maximum Cd(II) adsorption capacities of the MPs studied in the adsorption experiments decreased in the order PA (0.96 ± 0.07 mg/g) > PLA (0.64 ± 0.04 mg/g) > PP (0.22 ± 0.03 mg/g). The Pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlich isothermal model described the Cd(II) adsorption behaviors of PLA MPs well. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and two-dimensional Fourier transform infrared correlation spectroscopy analysis indicated that oxygen functional groups were the major and preferential binding sites of PLA MPs, which contributed to their high Cd(II) adsorption capacities. Simulated gastric and intestinal fluids both significantly enhanced the desorption capacities of the examined MPs. Notably, degradation of the PLA MPs during in vitro human digestion made the Cd(II) on the PLA MPs more bioaccessible (19% in the gastric phase and 62% in the intestinal phase) than Cd(II) on the PP and PA MPs. These results indicate the remarkable capacities of biodegradable MPs to accumulate Cd(II) and transfer it to the digestive system and show that biodegradable MPs might pose more severe threats to human health than conventional nonbiodegradable MPs.

Total synthesis of a putative yuzurimine-type Daphniphyllum alkaloid C_(14)–epi-deoxycalyciphylline H

One of the largest subfamilies within the famous Daphniphyllum alkaloid family is made up of the yuzurimine-type(or macrodaphniphyllamine-type) alkaloids. Their complex aza-polycyclic caged structures, several contiguous stereogenic centers, and vicinal all-carbon quaternary centers make these alkaloids formidable challenge for synthetic chemists. Recently, synthesis of these alkaloids has received extensive attention from our community. Herein, we wish to report the total synthesis of C_(14)–epideoxycalyciphylline H, a putative member of yuzurimine-type alkaloid subfamily. Key transformations employed in our approach include an intramolecular Prins reaction and a Pd-catalyzed enyne cycloisomerization. In addition, synthesis of a daphnezomine L-type alkaloid, paxdaphnidine A, was also studied.

A Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Based Vaccine Carrying Zika Virus Capsid Protein Protects Mice from Viral Infection

Dear Editor,Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus that belongs to the Flavivirus family along with dengue virus (DENV),yellow fever virus, West Nile virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus (Ming et al. 2016). ZIKV is a singlestranded positive-sense RNA virus encoding three structural proteins, including nucleocapsid protein C, prM/M,envelope glycoprotein E, and seven non-structural proteins.Since 2015.

Performance evaluation of microbial fuel cell for landfill leachate treatment: Research updates and synergistic effects of hybrid systems

Over half of century,sanitary landfill was and is still the most economical treatment strategy for solid waste disposal,but the environmental risks associated with the leachate have brought attention of scientists for its proper treatment to avoid surface and ground water deterioration.Most of the treatment technologies are energy-negative and cost intensive processes,which are unable to meet current environmental regulations.There are continuous demands of alternatives concomitant with positive energy and high effluent quality.Microbial fuel cells(MFCs)were launched in the last two decades as a potential treatment technology with bioelectricity generation accompanied with simultaneous carbon and nutrient removal.This study reviews capability and mechanisms of carbon,nitrogen and phosphorous removal from landfill leachate through MFC technology,as well as summarizes and discusses the recent advances of standalone and hybrid MFCs performances in landfill leachate(LFL)treatment.Recent improvements and synergetic effect of hybrid MFC technology upon the increasing of power densities,organic and nutrient removal,and future challenges were discussed in details.

Anaerobic digestion of sludge by different pretreatments:Changes of amino acids and microbial community

Many studies have investigated the effects of different pretreatments on the performance of anaerobic digestion of sludge.However,the detailed changes of dissolved organic nitrogen,particularly the release behavior of proteins and the byproducts of protein hydrolysis-amino acids,are rarely known during anaerobic digestion of sludge by different pretreatments.Here we quantified the changes of three types of proteins and 17 types of amino acids in sludge samples solubilized by ultrasonic,thermal,and acid/alkaline pretreatments and their transformation during anaerobic digestion of sludge.Tryptophan protein,aromatic protein I,aromatic protein II,and cysteine were identified as the key dissolved organic nitrogen responsible for methane production during anaerobic digestion of sludge,regardless of the different pretreatment methods.Different from the depletion of other amino acids,cysteine was resistant to degradation after an incubation period of 30 days in all sludge samples.Meanwhile,the“cysteine and methionine metabolism(K00270)”was absent in all sludge samples by identifying 6755 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes assignments of genes hits.Cysteine contributed to the generation of methane and the degradation of acetic,propionic,and n-butyric acids through decreasing oxidation-reduction potential and enhancing biomass activity.This study provided an alternative strategy to enhance anaerobic digestion of sludge through in situ production of cysteine.

Comparison of different valent iron on anaerobic sludge digestion:Focusing on oxidation reduction potential,dissolved organic nitrogen and microbial community

This study compared effects of three different valent iron(Fe^(0),Fe(II)and Fe(III))on enhanced anaerobic sludge digestion,focusing on the changes of oxidation reduction potential(ORP),dissolved organic nitrogen(DON),and microbial community.Under the same iron dose in range of 0−160 mg/L after an incubation period of 30 days(d),the maximum methane production rate of sludge samples dosed with respective Fe^(0),Fe(II)and Fe(III)at the same concentration showed indiscernible differences at each iron dose,regardless of the different iron valence.Moreover,their behavior in changes of ORP,DON and microbial community was different:(1)the addition of Fe^(0) made the ORP of sludge more negative,and the addition of Fe(II)and Fe(III)made the ORP of sludge less negative.However,whether being more or less negative,the changes of ORP may show unobservable effects on methane yield when it ranged from−278.71 to−379.80 mV;(2)the degradation of dissolved organic nitrogen,particularly proteins,was less efficient in sludge samples dosed with Fe^(0) compared with those dosed with Fe(II)and Fe(III)after an incubation period of 30 d.At the same dose of 160 mg/L iron,more cysteine was noted in sludge samples dosed with Fe(II)(30.74 mg/L)and Fe(III)(27.92 mg/L)compared with that dosed with Fe^(0)(21.75 mg/L);(3)Fe^(0) particularly promoted the enrichment of Geobacter,and it was 6 times higher than those in sludge samples dosed with Fe(II)and Fe(III)at the same dose of 160 mg/L iron.

Calyciphylline A-型虎皮楠生物碱himalensine A的全合成研究进展

虎皮楠生物碱自从1909年被首次分离报道至今,已有300多个已知家族成员.它们具有广泛的生物活性以及复杂多变的多环骨架结构,其独特的氮杂笼状稠环结构以及骨架中包含季碳中心的多个手性中心使得其合成极具挑战性.在虎皮楠生物碱的众多家族中,含有20多个成员的calyciphylline A-型虎皮楠生物碱是具有代表性的家族之一,而himalensine A则是calyciphylline A-型虎皮楠生物碱的代表性成员之一.该分子被岳建民课题组分离报道以来受到了众多合成化学家的关注,迄今已有多篇合成研究与全合成工作报道.本文主要介绍关于calyciphylline A-型虎皮楠生物碱himalensine A近期的全合成研究进展.这些工作为虎皮楠生物碱的全合成研究贡献了宝贵的经验,并展示了许多开拓性的思路.