Constructing Z-schemeβ-Bi_(2)O_(3)/ZrO_(2)heterojunctions with 3D mesoporous SiO_(2)nanospheres for efficient antibiotic remediation via synergistic adsorption and photocatalysis

A series of Z-schemeβ-Bi_(2)O_(3)/ZrO_(2)hetero-junction composites containing three-dimensional(3D)mesoporous silica nanospheres(MSNs)were synthesized as efficient catalysts for antibiotic remediation.The obtained MSN/β-Bi_(2)O_(3)/ZrO_(2)ternary composites possess novel lamellar cross structure,which is well constructed byβ-Bi_(2)O_(3)nanosheets,3D MSNs,and ZrO_(2)nanoparticles.The optimal sample BZS-2(Bi∶Zr∶Si=1∶0.4∶0.33)shows an adsorptive-photocatalytic removal efficiency of 92.7%towards levofloxacin(LVF)and a total organic carbon(TOC)removal efficiency of 60.0%under simu-lated solar light irradiation for 100 min.BZS-2 can also remove 90.1%and 91.2%of tetracycline hydrochloride(TC)and oxytetracycline hydrochloride(OTC),respectively,and themaximum adsorptioncapacityof TCover BZS-2is almost 10 times that of-BiO.Theimprovement ofphotocatalytic activitycan bemainly attributed to the enhanced visible-light adsorption capacity and more efficientseparationof photogenerated electron-hole pairs.A possible Z-scheme photocatalytic mechanism of p BiO/ZrOheterojunctions based on valence band offset(AEvBo)andconduction band offset(EcBo)isproposed.This study provides an efficient way to construct novel mesoporous ternary photocatalyst with increased accessible surface area and active sites for treatment of antibiotics by synergistic adsorption and photocatalysis.

Synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones catalyzed by a-chymotrypsin

We discovered that a-chymotrypsin has a promiscuous ability to catalyze the cyclocondensation of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with 2-aminobenzamides to afford the corresponding 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4（1H）-ones successfully in high yields（90%–98%） under alcohol solvent. The catalytic activity of a-chymotrypsin was evaluated through investigating the temperature, the enzyme loading and the ratio of substrates in the enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The present method proves to be efficient and environmentally friendly in terms of short reaction time, high yield, green catalyst and the clean products obtained without further purification processes.