Grafting of aminated oligogalacturonans onto Douglas fir barks. A new route for the enhancement of their lead (II) binding capacities

Lignocellulosic fraction of the pericarps of the acorns of Quercus suber and Quercus ilex: isolation, characterization, and biosorption studies in the removal of copper from aqueous solutions

Pericarps of Algerian Quercus ilex (Q. ilex) and Quercus suber (Q. suber) were used as copper adsorbents in artificially contaminated solutions. Exposing accessible lignocellulosic binding sites enhanced adsorption. The lignocellulosic fractions of Q. suber and Q. ilex (36.47±9.1 and 47.66±9.3, respectively) were characterized by FTIR before and after adsorption. The aim was to identify the functional groups adsorbing Cu(II). SEM/EDX determined lignocellulose surface morphology and composition. The amount of adsorbent-bound Cu(II) increased with initial [Cu(II)]. Cu(II) adsorption range was 23.59–48.06 mg.g−1 for Q. Suber and 22.56–38.19 mg.g−1 for Q. ilex when [Cu(II)] was 100–500 mg.L−1. Adsorption isotherms and Langmuir and Freundlich models of the Q. suber and Q. ilex lignocellulosic fractions indicated natural Cu(II)adsorption capacities (Qmax) of 53.76 mg.g−1 and 36.06 mg.g−1 and KF of 5.9 mg.g−1 and 7.43 mg.g−1, respectively.

Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: an update for 2009-2010

This review is the sixth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of MALDI mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2010. General aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, arrays and fragmentation are covered in the first part of the review and applications to various structural typed constitutes the remainder. The main groups of compound that are discussed in this section are oligo and polysaccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides and biopharmaceuticals. Many of these applications are presented in tabular form. Also discussed are medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions and applications to chemical synthesis.

Hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepis Henry): a good candidate for cadmium phytoremediation?

Studies related to phytoremediation by conifers are still at their beginning. Thus, we investigated the ability of a hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepis) to accumulate cadmium (Cd). One-month-old clonal plantlets grown in vitro were exposed for 1 week to a high Cd concentration (1.5 mM). No significant effect was observed on root and shoot biomass, root length, and needle number as a result of Cd treatment. Leaf photosynthetic pigment content and total soluble protein concentration in roots and shoots remained unchanged compared to control plantlets. Taken together, these results suggested that hybrid larch tolerated Cd in our conditions. The high Cd concentration in shoots (200 μg Cd gram(-1) dry weight) showed the good capacity of larch to translocate Cd and thus a potential use of this species for phytoremediation. Furthermore, under our conditions, phytochelatin biosynthesis pathway was slightly stimulated, suggesting that this pathway did not reach the threshold and/or another mechanism of Cd storage may be involved to explain larch tolerance to Cd.