Zirconium based porous coordination polymer (PCP) bearing organocatalytic ligand: A promising dual catalytic center for ultrasonic heterocycle synthesis

Magnetic N-doped carbon derived from mixed ligands MOF as effective electrochemiluminescence coreactor for performance enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 immunosensor

COVID-19 as an infectious disease with rapid transmission speed is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), so, early and accurate diagnostics of COVID-19 is quite challenging. In this work, the selective and sensitive self-enhanced ECL method to detect of SARS-CoV-2 protein was designed with magnetic N-doped carbon derived from dual-ligand metal-organic frameworks (MOF) (CoO@N-C) with the primary and tertiary amino groups as a novel coreactant that covalently combined with Ru(bpy)2(phen-NH2)2+ as electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitter. Mixed-ligand strategy and selected nitrogen-containing ligands, 4,4',4''-((1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triyl) tris-(azanediyl)) tribenzoic acid (H3TATAB) with 2-aminoterephthalic acid (BDC-NH2) were used for synthesis of the proposed MOF. Also, magnetic CoO@N-C with high synergistically charge transfer kinetics and good stability can be used as an effective platform/coreactor on the ITO electrode which load more Ru-complex as signal producing compound and SARS-CoV-2 N protein antibody to increase the sensitivity of the immunosensor. Furthermore, (CoO@N-C) as coreactor improved the ECL signal of the Ru (II)-complex more than 2.1 folds compared to tripropylamine. In view of these competences, the novel "on-off" ECL biosensor performed with great stability and repeatability for detection of SARS-CoV-2 protein, which exhibited a broad linearity from 8 fg. mL-1 to 4 ng. mL-1 (6 order of magnitude) and an ultra-low limit of detection 1.6 fg. mL-1. Finally, this proposed method was successfully applied to detect of SARS-CoV-2 N protein in serum sample with satisfactory results, indicating the proposed immunosensor has the potential for quick analysis of SARS-CoV-2.

Magnetite Metal-Organic Frameworks: Applications in Environmental Remediation of Heavy Metals, Organic Contaminants, and Other Pollutants

Due to the increasing environmental pollution caused by human activities, environmental remediation has become an important subject for humans and environmental safety. The quest for beneficial pathways to remove organic and inorganic contaminants has been the theme of considerable investigations in the past decade. The easy and quick separation made magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) a popular method for the removal of different pollutants from the environment. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials best known for their ultrahigh porosity. Moreover, these materials can be easily modified with useful ligands and form various composites with varying characteristics, thus rendering them an ideal candidate as adsorbing agents for MSPE. Herein, research on MSPE, encompassing MOFs as sorbents and Fe₃O₄ as a magnetic component, is surveyed for environmental applications. Initially, assorted pollutants and their threats to human and environmental safety are introduced with a brief introduction to MOFs and MSPE. Subsequently, the deployment of magnetic MOFs (MMOFs) as sorbents for the removal of various organic and inorganic pollutants from the environment is deliberated, encompassing the outlooks and perspectives of this field.

Synthesis of various dimensional metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and their hybrid composites for emerging applications - A review

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) represent the organic and inorganic hybrid porous materials. MOFs are low dense and highly porous materials which in turn provide large surface area that can accumulate and store numerous molecules within the pores. The pore size may also act as a mesh to separate molecules. The porous nature of MOFs is beneficial for altering the intrinsic properties of the materials. Over the past decade, different types of hybrid MOFs have been reported in combination with polymers, carbon materials, metal nanoparticles, metal oxides, and biomolecules for various applications. MOFs have also been used in the fabrication of electronic devices, sensors, energy storage, gas separation, supercapacitors, drug delivery and environmental clean-up. In this review, the unique structural orientation, exceptional properties and recent applications of MOFs have been discussed in the first section along with their porosity, stability and other influencing factors. In addition, various methods and techniques involved in the synthesis and designing of MOFs such as solvothermal, electrochemical, mechanochemical, ultrasonication and microwave methods are highlighted. In order to understand the scientific feasibility of MOFs in developing new products, various strategies have been applied to obtain different dimensional MOFs (0D, 1D, 2D and 3D) and their composite materials are also been conferred. Finally, the future prospects of MOFs, remaining challenges, research gaps and possible solutions that need to be addressed by advanced experimental design, computational models, simulation techniques and theoretical concepts have been deliberated.

Amino Acid Complexes of Zirconium in a Carbon Composite for the Efficient Removal of Fluoride Ions from Water

Amino acid complexes of zirconia represent an entirely new class of materials that were synthesized and studied for the first time for the decontamination of fluoride ion containing aqueous solutions. Glutamic and aspartic acid complexes of zirconia assembled with thin carbon (stacked graphene oxide) platelets deriving from graphite oxide (GO) were synthesized by a two-step method to prepare adsorbents. The characterization of the complexes was carried out using infrared spectroscopy to determine the functional groups and the types of interaction between the composites and fluoride ions. To reveal the mechanisms and extent of adsorption, two types of batch adsorption measurements were performed: (i) varying equilibrium fluoride ion concentrations to construct adsorption isotherms at pH = 7 in the absence of added electrolytes and (ii) using fixed initial fluoride ion concentrations (10 mg/L) with a variation of either the pH or the concentration of a series of salts that potentially interfere with adsorption. The experimental adsorption isotherms were fitted by three different theoretical isotherm equations, and they are described most appropriately by the two-site Langmuir model for both adsorbents. The adsorption capacities of Zr-glutamic acid-graphite oxide and Zr-aspartic acid-graphite oxide are 105.3 and 101.0 mg/g, respectively. We found that two distinct binding modes are combined in the Zr-amino acid complexes: at low solution concentrations, F⁻ ions are preferentially adsorbed by coordinating to the surface Zr species up to a capacity of ca. 10 mg/g. At higher concentrations, however, large amounts of fluoride ions may undergo anion exchange processes and physisorption may occur on the positively charged ammonium moieties of the interfacially bound amino acid molecules. The high adsorption capacity and affinity of the studied dicarboxylate-type amino acids demonstrate that amino acid complexes of zirconia are highly variable materials for the safe and efficient capture of strong Lewis base-type ions such as fluoride.

The Emerging Role of Ultrasonic Nanotechnology for Diagnosing and Treatment of Diseases

Nanotechnology has been commonly used in a variety of applications in recent years. Nanomedicine has also gotten a lot of attention in the medical and treatment fields. Ultrasonic technology is already being used in research as a powerful tool for manufacturing nonmaterial and in the decoration of catalyst supports for energy applications and material processing. For the development of nanoparticles and the decoration of catalytic assisted powders with nanoparticles, low or high-frequency Ultrasonic are used. The Ultrasonic is frequently used in joint venture with the nanotechnology from the past few years and bring tremendous success in various diseases diagnosing and treatment. Numerous kinds of nanoparticles are fabricated with desired capabilities and targeted toward different targets. This review first highlights the Ultrasonic Treatment and processing of Nanoparticles for Pharmaceuticals. Next, we explain various nanoparticles with ultrasonic technology for different diagnosing and treatment of various diseases. Finally, we explain the challenges face by current approaches for their translation in clinics.

Sonochemical Protocols for Heterocyclic Synthesis: A Representative Review

In the present era of the industrial revolution, we all are familiar with ever-increasing environmental pollution released from various chemical processes. Chemical production has had a severe impact on the environment and human health. For the betterment of our environment, the chemical community has turned their interest to developing green, harmless and sustainable synthetic processes. To accomplish these goals of green chemistry, the extraordinary properties of sonication play an important role. It is well known that sonochemistry can make decisive contributions to creating high pressures of almost 1000 atm and very high temperatures in the range of 4500-5000 °C. The implementation of ultrasound in chemical transformations somehow fulfils the measures of green chemistry, as it reduces energy consumption, enhances product selectivity, and uses lesser amounts of hazardous chemicals and solvents. Furthermore, heterocyclic synthesis under ultrasonication offers several environmental and process-related advantages compared with conventional methods. The remarkable contribution of ultrasonics to the development of green and sustainable synthetic routes inspired us to write this article. Herein, we have discussed only some of the various synthetic methodologies developed for the construction of heterocyclic cores under ultrasonic irradiation, accompanied by mechanistic insights. In some cases, a comparison between sonochemical conditions and conventional conditions has also been investigated. We emphasized principally 'up to date' developments on various sono-accelerated chemical transformations comprising aza-Michael, aldol reactions, C-C couplings, oxidation, cycloadditions, multi-component reactions, etc. for the synthesis of heterocycles.

Rapid Removal of Mercury from Water by Novel MOF/PP Hybrid Membrane

Mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals that can cause terrible disease for human beings. Among different absorption materials, MOF (metal–organic framework) materials show potential as very attractive materials for the rapid removal of mercury. However, the instability and difficulty for regeneration of MOF crystals limit their applications. Here, a continuous sulfur-modified MOF (UiO-66-NHC(S)NHMe) layer was synthesized in situ on polymeric membranes (PP non-woven fabrics) by post-synthetic modification and used for rapid mercury removal. The MOF-based membrane (US-N) showed high selectivity for mercury in different aqueous systems, which is better than sulfur-modified MOF powders. A thinner MOF layer on US-N showed a much better mercury ion removal performance. US-N with a 59.3 nm MOF layer could remove more than 85% of mercury in 20 min from an aqueous solution. In addition, the US-N can simply regenerate several times for mercury removal and maintain the initial performance (removal ratio > 98%), exhibiting excellent durability and stability. This work promotes the application of MOF materials in the rapid removal of hazardous heavy metal ions from practical environments.

Zr-MOFs Integrated with a Guest Capturer and a Photosensitizer for the Simultaneous Adsorption and Degradation of 4-Chlorophenol

A bifunctional metal-organic framework (MOF) was successfully designed to realize the purification of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) under simulated sunlight irradiation. Owing to the large-size mesopores of the MOF matrix NU-1000, β-CMCD (carboxylic β-cyclodextrin) could be incorporated into the frameworks with a density of 2.4% to pre-enrich the pollutant of 4-CP. Meanwhile, the photodegradation promoter [Pd(II) meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphine] was in situ co-assembled with the organic ligand to realize its synchronous degradation. As for the current integrator, a Langmuir model was used to explain the adsorption isotherm, and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model exhibited a better fit to its catalytic degradation behavior. Thanks to the simultaneous presence of a capturer and a photodegradation promoter, the adsorption capacity of 4-CP reached as high as 296 mg g^-1, which was further completely detoxified within 60 min under simulated sunlight irradiation with a half-life time of only 5.98 min. Such excellent integrated decontamination properties prefigure the great promising potential of multifunctional MOFs in the field of pollution purification.

Advances of the highly efficient and stable visible light active photocatalyst Zr(IV)-phthalate coordination polymer for the degradation of organic contaminants in water

This work presents the restoration of the Zr-phthalate coordination polymer (Zr-Ph CP) via valuable application in photocatalysis. Zr-Ph CP was facilely synthesized using a soft hydrothermal method at 70 °C, and was characterized utilizing FTIR, Raman Spectrosopy, XPS, PXRD, SEM/EDX, BET, and a hyperspectral camera. Assessment of its photocatalytic degradation potential was performed against two different dyes, the cationic methylene blue (MB) and the anionic methyl orange (MO), as frequent models of organic contaminants, under properly selected mild visible illumination (9 W) where the bandgap energy (Eg) was determined to be 2.72 eV. Effects of different initial pH values and different dyes' initial concentrations were covered. Photocatalytic degradation studies showed that Zr-Ph CP effectively degraded both dyes for initial pH 7 within about 40-60 minutes. Degradation rate constants were calculated as 0.17 and 0.13 min-1 for MB and MO, respectively. Generally, both direct and indirect mechanisms share in the degradation, where adsorption has shown an important role. The repeated use of Zr-Ph CP does not significantly affect its photocatalytic performance suggesting high water stability.

Zinc-based triazole metal complexes for efficient iodine adsorption in water

Radioactive iodine is extremely harmful to the environment, and it is of great significance to develop materials that efficiently remove iodine. We prepared two triazole metal complexes with simple method, denoted as Zn(tr)(OAc) and Zn(ttr)(OAc), which were used to adsorb iodine from aqueous solution. The properties and adsorption mechanism of the two materials were studied by different techniques including XRD, SEM, N2 porosimetry at 77 K, FTIR, TGA, elemental analysis (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that both materials had good water and thermal stability. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model was better at describing the iodine adsorption kinetics onto the adsorbents. It was proved that chemical adsorption dominated, iodine mainly enriched on the materials in the form of I3-1. Zn(ttr)(OAc) had a higher adsorption capacity than Zn(tr)(OAc) due to the electron-donating group -NH2. The maximum adsorption capacity of the two materials for iodine reached 714.501 mg·g-1 and 846.108 mg·g-1 at 25 °C.

A newly-constructed hydrolytically stable Co(ii) coordination polymer showing dual responsive fluorescence sensing of pH and Cu2+

A novel CP (1), showing distinct dual responsive fluorescence sensing of pH in three continuous stages as well as efficient and selective sensing of Cu²⁺.

Enzymatic electrochemical continuous flow cascade synthesis of substituted benzimidazoles

An industrially practical method for the synthesis of substituted benzimidazoles was developed from an enzymatic electrochemical cascade method.

A critical review on recent developments in MOF adsorbents for the elimination of toxic heavy metals from aqueous solutions

Effective and substantial remediation of contaminants especially heavy metals from water is still a big challenge in terms of both environmental and biological perspectives because of their adverse effects on the human health. Many techniques including adsorption, ion exchange, co-precipitation, chemical reduction, ultrafiltration, etc. are reported for eliminating heavy metal ions from the water. However, adsorption has preferred because of its simple and easy handlings. Several types of adsorbents are observed and documented well for the purpose. Recently, highly porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were developed by incorporating metals and organic ligands together and claimed as potent adsorbents for the remediation of highly toxic heavy metals from the aqueous solutions due to their unique features like greater surface area, high chemical stability, green and reuse material, etc. In this review, the authors discussed systematically some recent developments about secure MOFs to eliminate the toxic metals such as arsenic (both arsenite and arsenate), chromium(VI), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). MOFs are observed as the most efficient adsorbents with greater selectivity as well as high adsorption capacity for metallic contamination. Graphical abstract.

A decennary update on applications of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) in the synthesis of nitrogen- and oxygen-containing heterocyclic scaffolds

Heterocycles have been found to be of much importance as several nitrogen- and oxygen-containing heterocycle compounds exist amongst the various USFDA-approved drugs. Because of the advancement of nanotechnology, nanocatalysis has found abundant applications in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds. Numerous nanoparticles (NPs) have been utilized for several organic transformations, which led us to make dedicated efforts for the complete coverage of applications of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) in the synthesis of heterocyclic scaffolds reported from 2010 to 2019. Our emphasize during the coverage of catalyzed reactions of the various MNPs such as Ag, Au, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Si, Ti, and Zn has not only been on nanoparticles catalyzed synthetic transformations for the synthesis of heterocyclic scaffolds, but also provide an inherent framework for the reader to select a suitable catalytic system of interest for the synthesis of desired heterocyclic scaffold.

Anion recognition by urea metal-organic frameworks: remarkable sensitivity for arsenate and fluoride ions

Functionalized metal-organic frameworks (F-MOFs) are known as a promising chemical sensors since they have specific merits like fixed functionalized ligands projecting into the pores which can be utilized to enhance sensitivity and selectivity. Due to the important role of anions in biological process and environmental systems, there is an increasing interest in synthesis and design of new receptors for anions. Urea groups can operate as a hydrogen bond donating site with hydrogen bond acceptor molecules. Strong and directional hydrogen-bonding between the positive urea groups and anions could reduce vibrational quenching and enhance the fluorescence intensity. In this study, two luminescent porous urea decorated MOFs have been successfully assembled and structurally characterized. Luminescence studies of these MOFs toward anions revealed that these F-MOFs exhibit high sensitivity and selectivity toward H₂AsO₄^- and F^- anions as two major ground water pollutants. Moreover, the proposed materials have been applied for the removal of arsenate and nitrate in contaminant well water samples. Graphical abstract.