[Removal Performance and Mechanism of Potassium Permanganate Modified Coconut Shell Biochar for Cd(â ¡) and Ni(â ¡) in Aquatic Environment].

In this study, coconut shell biochar modified by KMnO4 (MCBC) was used as the adsorbent, and its removal performance and mechanism for Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were discussed. When the initial pH and MCBC dosage were separately 5 and 3.0 g·L-1, respectively, the removal efficiencies of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were both higher than 99%. The removal of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) was more in line with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, indicating that their removal was dominated by chemisorption. The rate-controlling step for Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) removal was the fast removal stage, for which the rate depended on the liquid film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion (surface diffusion). Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were mainly attached to the MCBC via surface adsorption and pore filling, in which the contribution of surface adsorption was greater. The maximum adsorption amounts of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) by MCBC were individually 57.18 mg·g-1 and 23.29 mg·g-1, which were approximately 5.74 and 6.97 times that of the precursor (coconut shell biochar), respectively. The removal of Cd(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ) was spontaneous and endothermic and had obvious thermodynamic characteristics of chemisorption. Cd(Ⅱ) was attached to MCBC through ion exchange, co-precipitation, complexation reaction, and cation-π interaction, whereas Ni(Ⅱ) was removed by MCBC via ion exchange, co-precipitation, complexation reaction, and redox. Among them, co-precipitation and complexation were the main modes of surface adsorption of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ). Additionally, the proportion of amorphous Mn-O-Cd or Mn-O-Ni in the complex may have been higher. These research results will provide important technical support and theoretical basis for the practical application of commercial biochar in the treatment of heavy metal wastewater.

Antimicrobial crinane-type alkaloids from the bulbs of Crinum latifolium.

A phytochemical investigation on the 90% ethanol aqueous extract of the bulbs of Crinum latifolium led to the isolation of three new crinane-type alkaloids, designated as crinumlatines A-C (1-3). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis (NMR, IR, UV, and MS). The isolated alkaloids were tested in vitro for antimicrobial potentials against 5 pathogenic microorganisms. As a result, compounds 1-3 exhibited some antimicrobial activity against the tested Gram negative bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentration values less than 50 µg/ml.