Correction: Rajabi et al. Solvent-Free Preparation of 1,8-Dioxo-Octahydroxanthenes Employing Iron Oxide Nanomaterials. Materials 2019, 12, 2386.

It has been brought to the attention of the Editorial Office that Figure 1 in the original publication [...].

Layered double hydroxide nanoparticles for a smartphone digital image colorimetry-based determination of fluoride ions in water, milk and dental products.

A novel smartphone digital image colorimetry-based approach was developed for fluoride ion determination, using layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles (Mg2Al(OH)7) as sorbents for analyte preconcentration and as a source of a central metal ion for a colored complex formation. A cotton rotating disk provided effective retention of the LDH nanoparticles during solid-phase microextraction and elution, excluding time-consuming centrifugation process. In the proposed procedure, the nanoparticles acted as aluminum ion source for alizarin complexone-Al3+-F- complex formation. An image of Eppendorf tube, containing the colored complex solution was obtained by a smartphone and converted, using the RGB model for fluoride ion determination. The procedure had a linear range of 0.20-20 mg L-1 with a limit of detection of 0.06 mg L-1. The developed procedure provided effective fluoride separation from various matrices for its determination by a smartphone without additional sample pretreatment.

Fast and ecofriendly triple sulfonamides mixture utilization using UV irradiation and spherical SnO2 nanoparticles with controllable parameters and antibacterial activity.

One of the solutions for the growing problem of water purification is photocatalytic degradation of the pollutants. Semiconductor nanoparticles are widely under study as a promising photocatalyst for this purpose. However, there is still lack of understanding of the relation between properties of nanoparticles, in their turn related with synthesis conditions, and photocatalytic efficiency, as well as of the other factors influencing the process. For the first time, a possibility to regulate photocatalytic activity of SnO2 nanoparticles under UV light via regulation of structural parameters is shown. A method for obtaining spherical nanoparticles with different parameters was developed. Obtained nanoparticles were fully characterized. Special attention was paid to the study of oxygen vacancies. With the help of quantum computational methods, it was shown, that the concentration of vacancies is around 1 per 32 tin atoms. Obtained data on oxygen vacancies were further used for the evaluation of pollutant-nanoparticle surface interaction to get closer to the calculations of real systems. On the example of methylene blue, it was shown that the greater is the amount of oxygen vacancies and the lower the amount of defects, the higher photocatalytic activity. The obtained dependence is confirmed by the fact that the photoresponse increases with a decrease of amount of defects in the sample. Degradation kinetics of sulfonamides mixture was studied, and its dependence on active complex formation was shown based on the quantum chemical calculation data. Degradation of antibiotics in water from Neva River reached more than 95% in 35 min, which indicates that developed photocatalyst efficiency is not affected by pollutants contained in open water in the centre of the metropolis. It was shown, that the use of nanoparticles allows to speed up the process of bacteria destruction under UV light, which indicates the antibacterial activity of obtained nanoparticles.

Synthesis of ZnFe2O4 Nanospheres with Tunable Morphology for Lithium Storage.

ZnFe2O4 (ZFO) nanospheres with complex structures have been synthesized by a one-step simple solvothermal method using two different types of precursors-metal chlorides and nitrates -and were fully characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, and EDS. The ZFO nanospheres synthesized from chloride salts (ZFO_C) were loose with a size range of 100-200 nm, while the ZFO nanospheres synthesized from nitrate salts (ZFO_N) were dense with a size range of 300-500 nm but consisted of smaller nanoplates. The different morphologies may be caused by the different hydrolysis rates and different stabilizing effects of chloride and nitrate ions interacting with the facets of forming nanoparticles. Electrochemical tests of nitrate-based ZFO nanospheres as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries demonstrated their higher cyclic stability. The ZFO_C and ZFO_N samples have initial specific discharge/charge capacities of 1354/1020 and 1357/954 mAh∙g-1, respectively, with coulombic efficiencies of 75% and 71%. By the 100th cycle, ZFO_N has a capacity of 276 mAh∙g-1, and for ZFO_C, only 210 mAh∙g-1 remains after 100 cycles.

Liquid-liquid microextraction with hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent followed by magnetic phase separation for preconcentration of antibiotics.

This study describes a miniaturized approach for liquid-liquid microextraction based on mass transfer into low volume of deep eutectic solvent and magnetic phase separation, using specially produced magnetic chromium dioxide nanoparticles with a hydrophobic surface layer of fatty acids. The nanoparticles modified with fatty acid helped to recover low volumes of viscous hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent-based extract reproducibly and easily (up to 10 µL) in a microextraction procedure with the application of magnetic forces. It was demonstrated that the collector properties depend on nanoparticles' surface and magnetic characteristics. The developed approach was implemented for the separation and preconcentration of trace fluoroquinolone antibiotics from environmental waters prior to their determination by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorometric detection as a model analytical task. The limits of detection, calculated from a blank test based on 3σ, were 0.01 µg L-1 for ofloxacin, 0.02 µg L-1 for lomefloxacin and fleroxacin, and 0.04 µg L-1 for norfloxacin. The procedure provides significant solvent reduction and high enrichment factors. The approach is green, which is proved by the analytical eco-scale assessment tool with the total score equal to 85 out of 100.

The strategy for organic dye and antibiotic photocatalytic removal for water remediation in an example of Co-SnO2 nanoparticles.

A challenging problem to create an efficient photocatalyst suitable for industrial water remediation, aiming to remove cyclic organic compounds attracts increasing attention. The current study aimed to clarify a few "dark spots" in the field, namely to find out if it is possible to make an efficient photocatalyst activated with visible light by using a simple and cheap strategy and what are the key factor impacting its efficiency. In this work, a new procedure to obtain spherical nanoparticles with the same average size but different amounts of oxygen vacancies and defects and dopant concentrations was developed. The approach based on hydrothermal treatment was suggested to obtain rod-shaped nanoparticles. The systematic study of photocatalytic behavior on the example of oxytetracycline and methylene blue degradation under visible light of widely available LED lamp was performed. Based on chemical and computational experiments the main factor affecting the process efficiency was determined.

Chemical and computational strategy for design of "switchable" sorbent based on hydroxyapatite nanoparticles for dispersive micro-solid phase extraction of tetracyclines.

A challenging task in analytical chemistry is an application of renewable and natural materials for isolation of hazardous substances such as antimicrobial drugs from environmental samples. The energy-efficient scalable hydrothermal procedure to fabricate the eco-friendly "switchable" sorbent based on hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with in situ modified surface using a small amount of capping agents was developed. Sorbents characterization including the surface composition investigation via quantum-chemical calculation based on the original approach was provided. The sorbents demonstrated well expressed controllable surface switching and high values of the sorption and elution efficiency for tetracycline, oxytetracycline, and chlortetracycline achieved by simple change of the medium pH. These processes were thoroughly discussed based on the results of chemical and computational experiments. A simple and universal strategy for choosing a suitable sorbent for solid phase extraction of target analytes was proposed for the first time. It was shown that the developed eco-friendly sample preparation procedure with use of biocompatible sorbents could be applied both for removal of target analytes from sample matrix (water samples) as well as for the quantitative analytes determination after elution step. It is believed that the presented research is significant for the determination of different amphoteric analytes in wide variety of samples.

Cobalt-doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles as a new eco-friendly catalyst of luminol-H2O2 based chemiluminescence reaction: Study of key factors, improvement the activity and analytical application.

In this study, a novel catalyst based on hydroxyapatite doped by cobalt for chemiluminescence reaction of luminol oxidation by H2O2 was suggested for the first time. The catalyst nanoparticles were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and characterized by various methods including density functional theory calculations. The impact of nanoparticles sizes, surface composition, contact efficiency and crystallinity on chemiluminescence intensity were investigated. The maximum chemiluminescence intensity was obtained for polycrystalline nanoparticles. This phenomenon was studied in detail and applied for chemiluminescence analysis for the first time. The chemiluminescence determination of sulfonamides as model analytes was considered. The sensing was based on sulfonamides-dependent quenching of the chemiluminescence intensity in the presence of novel catalyst existed as an aqueous suspension.

Effect of surfactant coating of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction of tetracyclines from human serum.

A procedure for separation and preconcentration of tetracyclines from human serum samples involving magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction was proposed. The extraction efficiency of different tetracyclines was improved with the use of the surfactant coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles. Sorption mechanism was presented, and the potential use of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with different surfactants for tetracyclines adsorption was demonstrated for the first time. The procedure involved nanoparticle floating in a liquid sample phase for analyte extraction followed by elution and determination by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. Influence of the main involved parameters was studied, the system was dimensioned accordingly. The analytical curves were linear in the ranges of 0.25-10 mg L-1 for tetracycline and 0.10-10 mg L-1 for oxytetracycline or doxycycline. Limits of detection were estimated (IUPAC, 3 concept) as 0.08 mg L-1 for tetracycline, and 0.03 mg L-1 for oxytetracycline or doxycycline. The proposed procedure proved to be fast (10 min), simple (two stages), inexpensive (10 mg of nanoparticles) and was applied to human serum samples. Unlike previously synthesized nanoparticles for tetracyclines separation, the surfactant-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be easily prepared with widely available and low-cost reagents. Moreover, elution of the analytes was accomplished in absence of organic solvents by an aqueous chelating agent solution.

Solvent-Free Preparation of 1,8-Dioxo-Octahydroxanthenes Employing Iron Oxide Nanomaterials.

In this study, 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthenes were prepared employing a simple, effective and environmentally sound approach utilizing an iron oxide nanocatalyst under solventless conditions. The proposed iron oxide nanomaterial exhibited high product yields, short reaction times and a facile work-up procedure. The synthesized catalyst was also found to be highly stable and reusable under the investigated conditions (up to twelve consecutive cycles) without any significant loss in its catalytic activity.

Tin oxide nanoparticles modified by copper as novel catalysts for the luminol-H2O2 based chemiluminescence system.

In this study, SnO2 nanoparticles modified by copper were found to greatly enhance the chemiluminescence intensity of the luminol-H2O2 system for the first time. The developed approach was applied for the determination of H2O2 as a proof-of-concept example.

Fe3O4-based composite magnetic nanoparticles for volatile compound sorption in the gas phase: determination of selenium(iv).

In this study, Fe3O4-based composite magnetic nanoparticles were found to separate volatile compounds directly in the gas phase for the first time. The phenomenon of H2Se sorption on the magnetic nanoparticles was studied in detail and applied for separation and preconcentration. The developed approach was applied for the determination of selenium in dietary supplement samples after microwave digestion by ETA-AAS as a proof-of-concept example.

An automated magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction in a fluidized reactor for the determination of fluoroquinolones in baby food samples.

An automated magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction procedure in a fluidized reactor was developed for the determination of fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drugs (fleroxacin, norfloxacin and ofloxacin) in meat-based baby food samples. A stepwise injection system was successfully combined with afluidized reactorand applied for the magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction procedure automation. The developed automated procedure involved injection of the sample solution into the fluidized reactor followed by the on-line separation of the analytes from the sample matrix based on fluidized beds strategy using magnetic nanoparticles, elution and determination of the analytes using a high performance liquid chromatography system with fluorescence detection. The floating of the magnetic nanoparticles in a liquid sample phase was accomplished by air-bubbling. In the developed method Zr-Fe-C magnetic nanoparticles were used as an efficient sorbent for the determination of fleroxacin, norfloxacin and ofloxacin. Under the optimal conditions, the calibration graphs were linear over the concentration ranges of 10-1000 µg L-1 for fleroxacin (R2 = 0.996), 5-1000 µg L-1for norfloxacin (R2 = 0.998) and ofloxacin (R2 = 0.998). The limits of detection, calculated from the blank tests based on 3σ, were 3.0 µg L-1forfleroxacin, 1.5 µg L-1for norfloxacin and ofloxacin. The limits of quantification, calculated from the blank tests based on 10σ, were 10 µg L-1 forfleroxacin, 5 µg L-1for norfloxacin and ofloxacin. The method was applied for the determination of fluoroquinolonesin meat-based baby food samples and the results were compared with those obtained by the reference method. The recovery values for all analytes were within of 86-122% range.