Construction of lignin-based nano-adsorbents for efficient and selective recovery of tellurium (IV) from wastewater

Tellurium is massively used as the main light-absorbing layer component in the manufacturing of CdTe thin-film solar cells, a critical component in the photovoltaic industry. However, the process of manufacturing and renewing components has produced large amounts of tellurium-containing wastewater that is difficult to degrade and poses a serious threat to the aquatic ecosystem and human health. Hence, to achieve the recovery of tellurium resources for reducing their damages, a win-win approach was employed to utilize waste lignin to construct functional copper-doped activated lignin (CAL) adsorbents for selective separation and recovery of tellurium from wastewater. CAL exhibited superior adsorption properties towards tellurium (248.45 mg/g), mainly attributed to the adsorption mechanism of coordination interactions. Kinetic and isotherm results elucidated that monolayer chemisorption dominated CAL adsorption process. Besides, CAL had a satisfactory regeneration capability with minimal loss adsorption capacity after six consecutive cycles, which also exhibited high antifouling properties. Meanwhile, CAL achieved high selectivity for tellurium adsorption under the simulated wastewater, revealing the potential of CAL for practical application in wastewater. Therefore, this work provides a promising environmental strategy for exploring the application of lignin-based materials for tellurium recovery from wastewater.

meso-Diketopyripentaphyrin and Diketopyrihexaphyrin as Macrocyclic Tripyrrinone Ligands for NiII Ions

We report expanded porphyrins with pyridine rings and two neighboring carbonyl groups, which allow Ni^II ions to coordinate to the tripyrrinone-type NNNO coordination structure with Ni-O bonds. The selectivity of tripyrrinone is superior to other pyrrolic or pyridinic cavities of expanded porphyrins. Introduction of α-carbonyl pyridine next to the tripyrrolic conjugated structure is a powerful strategy for regioselective metalation of flexible expanded porphyrinoids.

Electrochemistry of N-confused inner amino-substituted free-base tetraarylporphyrins in nonaqueous media

Four N-confused free-base tetraarylporphyrins containing an amino group on the inner carbon of the inverted pyrrole were synthesized and characterized as to their electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties in dichloromethane and N,N-dimethylformamide containing 0.1 M tetra-[Formula: see text]-butylammonium perchlorate as supporting electrolyte. The examined compounds are represented as (NH[Formula: see text](Ar)[Formula: see text]NcpH[Formula: see text], where “Ncp” is the N-confused porphyrin macrocycle and Ar is a [Formula: see text]-CH[Formula: see text]OPh, [Formula: see text]-CH[Formula: see text]Ph, Ph or [Formula: see text]-ClPh substituent on each meso-position of the macrocycle. Each porphyrin undergoes multiple irreversible reductions and oxidations. The first one-electron addition and first one-electron abstraction are located on the porphyrin [Formula: see text]-ring system to give [Formula: see text]-anion and [Formula: see text]-cation radicals with a HOMO–LUMO gap ranging from 1.21 to 1.34 V in CH[Formula: see text]Cl[Formula: see text] and 1.06 to 1.12 V in DMF. Both electrogenerated products are unstable and undergo a rapid chemical reaction to give new electroactive species which can be further reduced at more negative potentials or further oxidized at more positive potentials. The effects of the inner amino-substituent on the UV-vis spectra and electrochemical properties of the porphyrin are discussed, and comparisons made to data in the literature for both structurally related N-confused porphyrins containing an inner carbon NO[Formula: see text] group and derivatives without the inner substituent.

Electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry of metallohexaphyrins containing bis-copper or bis-zinc central metal ions

Two meso-substituted bis-metallohexaphyrins were synthesized and characterized as to their electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties in nonaqueous media. The examined compounds are represented as HexaPyM2, where HexaPy represents an expanded macrocycle containing six pyrroles and M [Formula: see text] Cu(II) or Zn(II). Each hexaphyrin undergoes four reversible one-electron reductions and two irreversible oxidations in PhCN or CH2Cl2 containing 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium perchlorate. The HexaPyCu2 is much easier to reduce than the corresponding Cu porphyrin with the same meso-substituents and it is also easier to reduce than a structurally related Cu(II) tripyrrinone. All four reductions of HexaPyM2 are assigned as [Formula: see text]-ring centered electron transfers to give [HexaPyM2][Formula: see text], [HexaPyM2][Formula: see text], [HexaPyM2][Formula: see text] and [HexaPyM2][Formula: see text], respectively. The neutral HexaPyCu2 and HexaPyZn2 also exhibit two oxidations, both of which are irreversible at a scan rate of 0.10 V/s. The peak separation between the first one-electron addition and the first electron abstraction of HexaPyM2 ranges from 1.46 to 1.72 V. These non-thermodynamic HOMO–LUMO gaps are similar to the range of HOMO–LUMO gaps for previously characterized sapphyrins which contain five pyrrole ring in the macrocycle.