Functional metal-organic framework as high-performance adsorbent for selective enrichment of pharmaceutical contaminants in aqueous samples

Facile and sensitive analysis methods for pharmaceutical contaminants in aqueous environment are of vital importance for water safety, especially when large amounts of anti-viral drugs are being used, discharged and accumulated. In this work, we used functional metal-organic framework (MOF) as high-performance adsorbent for selective enrichment of such pharmaceutical contaminants in aqueous samples. The MOF was synthesized via a new synthesis method previously developed by our group and immobilized on paper membrane to be used in solid-phase extraction (SPE) device. Different metal ions were anchored by MOF to screen out the adsorbent with the best affinity. The targets were a potential anti-COVID-19 drug favipiravir, and its structural and functional analogues (ingredients or intermediates, other anti-viral drugs). To deeply understand the adsorption mechanisms, quantum calculation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation were both applied. The experimental and in-silico results together demonstrated that the as-prepared MOF adsorbent possessed high affinity and fast dynamics. The established SPE-based liquid chromatography (LC) method worked well in the range of 10-1000 ng/mL, with only 3 mg of adsorbent per device and 5 mL sample needed, and no mass spectrometer (MS) included, which was very efficient compared to commercial adsorbents. The results met the current detection needs in the application scenario, and inspirable for later design of well-behaved adsorbents.

The Dual Impacts of Green Credit on Economy and Environment: Evidence from China

Green credit is regarded as an important means to promote sustainable growth. Based on the provincial panel dataset of China from 2007 to 2017, this paper investigates the dual impacts of green credit on the economy and environment, and it establishes mediating effect models to analyze the Porter hypothesis. The results show that the green credit policy significantly improves economic performance and reduces pollutant emissions. The above results are robust to employing methods with alternative variables and instrumental variables. Second, the green credit policy contributes to innovation;that is, the green credit increases the innovation scale and improves innovation efficiency. The results of mediating effect models suggest that the Porter effect of green credit can be achieved by improving innovation efficiency. The findings of the current study indicate that the green credit policy helps achieve the win–win situation for economic goals and environmental targets.