Activity

FactSage simulation, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses were performed to explore the combined influence of SiO2 and O2 on the crystallization behavior of modified Ti-bearing blast furnace slag. The results of FactSage simulation showed that an increase in the added amount of SiO2 was beneficial to the conversion of Ti-bearing minerals into simple titanium oxides. An increase in oxidation time was conducive to the transformation of low-valent titanium oxides to tetravalent titanium oxide. Therefore, Ti components were precipitated only in the form of rutile under the optimal added amount of SiO2 (40 g) and the optimum oxidation time (126 s). The results of XRD and SEM analyses were well in agreement with the results of FactSage simulation. Moreover, the mechanism of formation of rutile and glassy phases was discussed. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.A series of low-molecular-weight gelators based on an isoxazole backbone were synthesized, which showed robust and phase-selective gelation of a series of oils. Due to their excellent phase-selective and cogelation properties, they were employed for the separation of bisphenol and the recovery of oil spills from water. The driving force and morphology of these gels were characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic studies. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.The coal-based reduction of fayalite was characterized using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential TG methods with reduction temperatures from 1123 to 1273 K. The results of fayalite isothermal reduction indicate that the reduction process is divided two stages. The corresponding apparent activation energy E was gained using the isoconversional and model-fitting methods. At the first stage, the effect of temperature on the reduction degree was not clear, and the phase boundary chemical reaction was the controlling step, with an apparent activation energy E value of 175.32-202.37 kJ·mol-1. At the second stage, when the temperature was more than 1123 K, the conversion degree and the reaction rate increased nonlinearly with increasing temperature, and two-dimensional diffusion, three-dimensional diffusion, one-dimensional diffusion, and phase boundary-controlled reaction were the controlling stages, with an apparent activation energy E ranging from 194.81 to 248.96 kJ·mol-1. For the whole reduction process, the average activation energy E and pre-exponential factor A were 185.07-225.67 kJ·mol-1 and 0.796-0.797 min-1, respectively. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.Previous studies have been reported that the fruit body of wild Phellinus baumii alleviates diabetes, and antioxidants are beneficial to diabetes by protecting the β-cell from damage due to oxidative stress. Large-scale cultivation of P. baumii fruit body has been successful in the past decade. This paper aimed to investigate whether the fruit body of the cultivated P. baumii has the same analogical effects as the wild. The cultivated P. baumii fruit body was extracted by 80% of ethanol extracts, and different fractions were obtained with the successive use of petroleum ether, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (n-BuOH), and water, which yielded 15.98 ± 1.56, 1.74 ± 0.34, 3.31 ± 0.41, 4.12 ± 0.37, and 1.38 ± 0.26% extract recovery, respectively. Results show that the EtOAc fraction exhibits the highest inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase activity (IC50 = 49.05 ± 3.14 μg mL-1), which is an order of magnitude higher than the positive control (acarbose, IC50 = 645.73 ± 7.86 μg mL-1). It was mainly composed of phenolic compounds with a purity of 79.45% and characterized by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry as osmudacetone, hispidin, davallialactone, 2,5-bis(4,7-dihydroxy-8-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione, hypholomin B, and inoscavin A. Furthermore, the EtOAc fraction increased the glucose consumption of insulin-resistant HepG2 cells at a concentration range of 25-100 μg mL-1. The EtOAc fraction also demonstrated antioxidant activities by scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)diammonium salt, and hydroxyl radicals. In conclusion, the EtOAc fraction of the cultivated P. baumii fruit body exerted effective antidiabetic effects, possibly due to the high content of selective phenolic compounds. Hence, the cultivated fruit body of P. baumii can be a sustainable resource for treating diabetes, and our work also shed some light on its future utilization. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.A robust synthesis approach to develop CuO/ZnO nanocomposites using microwave-epoxide-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and their proficiency toward H2S gas-sensing application are reported. The low-cost metal salts (Cu and Zn) as precursors in aqueous media and epoxide (propylene oxide) as a proton scavenger/gelation agent are used for the formation of mixed metal hydroxides. The obtained sol was treated using the microwave hydrothermal process to yield the high-surface area (34.71 m2/g) CuO/ZnO nanocomposite. The developed nanocomposites (1.25-10 mol % Cu doping) showcase hexagonal ZnO and monoclinic CuO structures, with an average crystallite size in the range of 18-29 nm wrt Cu doping in the ZnO matrix. The optimized nanocomposite (2.5 mol % Cu doping) showed a lowest crystallite size of 21.64 nm, which reduced further to 18.06 nm upon graphene oxide addition. Morphological analyses (scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) exhibited rounded grains along with copious channels typical for sol-gel-based materials . Elemental mapping displayed the good dispersion of Cu in the ZnO matrix. When these materials are employed as a gas sensor, they demonstrated high sensitivity and selectivity toward H2S gas in comparison with the reducing gases and volatile organic compounds under investigation. The systematic doping of Cu in the ZnO matrix exhibited an improved response from 76.66 to 94.28%, with reduction in operating temperature from 300 to 250 °C. The 2.5 mol % doped Cu in ZnO was found to impart a response of 23 s for 25 ppm of H2S. Cerdulatinib cell line Gas-sensing properties are described using an interplay of epoxide-assisted sol-gel chemistry and structural and morphological properties of the developed material. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.