Metal complexes of salicylhydroxamic acid: equilibrium studies and synthesis

A review of flotation reagents for bastnäsite-(Ce) rare earth ore

Given the indispensability and immense value of rare earth elements for scientific and technological advancements in the 21st century, extracting high-quality rare earth resources from nature has become a global priority. Bastnäsite-(Ce) is one of the known rare earth minerals with high rare earth content and wide distribution, which occupies a pivotal position in human life and high-end production activities, making its efficient development and utilization crucial. In recent years, research on separating bastnäsite-(Ce) from gangue minerals has focused on the flotation process, with flotation reagents playing a critical role in achieving effective separation. This paper provides a detailed summary of current research on the behavior of bastnäsite-(Ce) flotation agents on minerals, their interaction with mineral surfaces during flotation separation, and outlines future prospects for further research.

A review of reagents applied to rare-earth mineral flotation

The rare-earth elements (REE), which encompass the fifteen metallic elements of the lanthanoid series of the periodic table, yttrium and occasionally scandium, have gained enormous public, economic and scientific attention in recent years. These elements, which have been found in over 250 minerals, are of high economic and strategic importance to many high-technology industries. As such they have been designated as critical materials by several countries and many new deposits are being developed. Rare-earth mineral (REM) deposits can be broadly classified into four geological environments: carbonates, alkaline/peralkaline igneous rocks, placers and ion adsorption clays. Apart from ion adsorption clay deposits, which require no mineral processing steps, froth flotation is the most applied beneficiation technique. This paper reviews the flotation of REM, covering their surface chemical properties as well as the various flotation reagents which have been employed.

AGNES at vibrated gold microwire electrode for the direct quantification of free copper concentrations

The free metal ion concentration and the dynamic features of the metal species are recognized as key to predict metal bioavailability and toxicity to aquatic organisms. Quantification of the former is, however, still challenging. In this paper, it is shown for the first time that the concentration of free copper (Cu(2+)) can be quantified by applying AGNES (Absence of Gradients and Nernstian equilibrium stripping) at a solid gold electrode. It was found that: i) the amount of deposited Cu follows a Nernstian relationship with the applied deposition potential, and ii) the stripping signal is linearly related with the free metal ion concentration. The performance of AGNES at the vibrating gold microwire electrode (VGME) was assessed for two labile systems: Cu-malonic acid and Cu-iminodiacetic acid at ionic strength 0.01 M and a range of pH values from 4.0 to 6.0. The free Cu concentrations and conditional stability constants obtained by AGNES were in good agreement with stripping scanned voltammetry and thermodynamic theoretical predictions obtained by Visual MinteQ. This work highlights the suitability of gold electrodes for the quantification of free metal ion concentrations by AGNES. It also strongly suggests that other solid electrodes may be well appropriate for such task. This new application of AGNES is a first step towards a range of applications for a number of metals in speciation, toxicological and environmental studies for the direct determination of the key parameter that is the free metal ion concentration.

A minimalist chemical model of matrix metalloproteinases--can small peptides mimic the more rigid metal binding sites of proteins?

In order to mimic the active center of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), we synthesized a pentadecapeptide (Ac-KAHEFGHSLGLDHSK-NH2) corresponding to the catalytic zinc(II) binding site of human MMP-13. The multi-domain structural organization of MMPs fundamentally determines their metal binding affinity, catalytic activity and selectivity. Our potentiometric, UV-visible, CD, EPR, NMR, mass spectrometric and kinetic studies are aimed to explore the usefulness of such flexible peptides to mimic the more rigid metal binding sites of proteins, to examine the intrinsic metal binding properties of this naked sequence, as well as to contribute to the development of a minimalist, peptide-based chemical model of MMPs, including the catalytic properties. Since the multiimidazole environment is also characteristic for copper(II), and recently copper(II) containing variants of MMPs have been identified, we also studied the copper(II) complexes of the above peptide. Around pH 6-7 the peptide, similarly to MMPs, offers a {3Nim} coordination binding site for both zinc(II) and copper(II). In the case of copper(II), the formation of amide coordinated species at higher pH abolished the analogy with the copper(II) containing MMP variant. On the other hand, the zinc(II)-peptide system mimics some basic features of the MMP active sites: the main species around pH7 (ZnH2L) possesses a {3Nim,H2O} coordination environment, the deprotonation of the zinc-bound water takes place near the physiological pH, it forms relatively stable ternary complexes with hydroxamic acids, and the species ZnH2L(OH) and ZnH2L(OH)2 have notable hydrolytic activity between pH7 and 9.

Evaluation of immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography for the fractionation of natural Cu complexing ligands

An immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) method has been developed and validated for the separation of copper complexing ligands from soil solution. We first investigated the retention behavior of simple model ligands on the IMAC column and found that the ability to form ternary complexes of the structure Cu-IDA-ligand was the dominant factor influencing ligand retention on the IMAC column. The logK value of the Cu-complex was found to have only a minor influence on the retention. Legends containing only carboxylic acid functional groups were not retained on the column. To optimize reproducibility and quantitative recovery of copper ligands from soil solution, different composition and pH values of eluting buffer were tested. Soil solution chromatograms exhibited one non-retained fraction and two retained fractions. The elution times of the retained fractions were characteristic of peptides and proteins (first peak) and for compounds containing aromatic amines (second peak). The results show that IMAC is an effective tool for the fractionation of copper complexing ligands that are capable of forming ternary complexes.

Metal complexes of salicylhydroxamic acid (H2Sha), anthranilic hydroxamic acid and benzohydroxamic acid. Crystal and molecular structure of [Cu(phen)2(Cl)]Cl x H2Sha, a model for a peroxidase-inhibitor complex

Stability constants of iron(III), copper(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) complexes of salicylhydroxamic acid (H2Sha), anthranilic hydroxamic acid (HAha) and benzohydroxamic acid (HBha) have been determined at 25.0 degrees C, I=0.2 mol dm(-3) KCl in aqueous solution. The complex stability order, iron(III) >> copper(II) > nickel(II) approximately = zinc(II) was observed whilst complexes of H2Sha were found to be more stable than those of the other two ligands. In the preparation of ternary metal ion complexes of these ligands and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) the crystalline complex [Cu(phen)2(Cl)]Cl x H2Sha was obtained and its crystal structure determined. This complex is a model for hydroxamate-peroxidase inhibitor interactions.