Ammoniating Covalent Organic Framework (COF) for High-Performance and Selective Extraction of Toxic and Radioactive Uranium Ions.

An ideal porous adsorbent toward uranium with not only large adsorption capacity and high selectivity but also broad applicability even under rigorous conditions is highly desirable but still extremely scarce. In this work, a porous adsorbent, namely [NH4]+[COF-SO3 -], prepared by ammoniating a SO3H-decorated covalent organic framework (COF) enables remarkable performance for uranium extraction. Relative to the pristine SO3H-decorated COF (COF-SO3H) with uranium adsorption capacity of 360 mg g-1, the ammoniated counterpart of [NH4]+[COF-SO3 -] affords ultrahigh uranium uptake up to 851 mg g-1, creating a 2.4-fold enhancement. Such a value is the highest among all reported porous adsorbents for uranium. Most importantly, a large distribution coefficient, K d U, up to 9.8 × 106 mL g-1 is observed, implying extremely strong affinity toward uranium. Consequently, [NH4]+[COF-SO3 -] affords highly selective adsorption of uranium over a broad range of metal ions such as SU/Cs = 821, SU/Na = 277, and SU/Sr = 124, making it as effective uranium adsorbent from seawater, resulting in amazing uranium adsorption capacity of 17.8 mg g-1. Moreover, its excellent chemostability also make it an effective uranium adsorbent even under rigorous conditions (pH = 1, 8, and 3 m acidity).

Applying MOF+ technique for in situ preparation of a hybrid material for hydrogenation reaction.

In this study, we present the first case of applying the MOF+ technique for in situ preparation of a hybrid material, namely, Zn-MOF-74@ (Pd@Fe2O3). This as-synthesized material can well maintain both the integrity of the framework and porosity. Notably, Zn-MOF-74@(Pd@Fe2O3) exhibits outstanding catalytic performance in the hydrogenation reaction of alkene and semihydrogenation reaction of phenylacetylene, thus providing a new guideline for the design of MOF-based hybrid materials for catalytic purpose.

Land use and land cover change in agro-pastoral ecotone in Northern China: A review.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is the most direct manifestation of the interaction between human activities and natural ecosystems. In recent years, due to the increasing human activities, regional environment has been dramatically changed. As one of heavily influenced and fragile and vulnerable ecosystems, the agro-pastoral ecotone in Northern China is a "hot spot" for land use/cover change research. Based on a literature review of LUCC in the agro-pastoral ecotone in Northern China, we first systematically summarized the progress of the boundary definitions of the agro-pastoral ecotone, and then synthesized the current findings, methods, procedures, topics, environmental impacts and adaption of LUCC in the region. Finally, we proposed that few comprehensive, process-based ecosystem simulations and eco-environmental impact studies had been reported in the current LUCC research and called for more multi-disciplinary, multi-methods, and multi-scale researches in the future LULC research in this area.

Pd@Zn-MOF-74: Restricting a Guest Molecule by the Open-Metal Site in a Metal-Organic Framework for Selective Semihydrogenation.

In this work, we found that the open-metal site in a metal-organic framework (MOF) can be used to enhance such selectivity. Hydrogenation of phenylacetylene over such a catalyst enables ultrahigh styrene selectivity of 92% at full conversion with a turnover frequency of 98.1 h-1. The origin of ultrahigh selectivity, as unveiled by density functional theory calculation, is due to a coordination interaction between the open Zn(II) site and the C≡C bond of phenylacetylene.

Hybrid Catalyst of a Metal-Organic Framework, Metal Nanoparticles, and Oxide That Enables Strong Steric Constraint and Metal-Support Interaction for the Highly Effective and Selective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde.

In this work, we designed a hybrid catalyst composed of a metal-organic framework (MOF), Pt nanoparticles (NPs), and ferric oxide, namely, Co-MOF-74@(Pt@Fe2O3), which enables not only high turnover frequencies of up to 245.7 h-1 but also ultrahigh 100% selectivity toward cinnamyl alcohol in the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde under mild conditions. This excellent performance is attributed to the fact that such a hybrid catalyst enables not only strong steric constraint to provide the favored C═O adsorption of cinnamaldehyde but also strong metal-support interaction to lower the electron density of Pt NPs.

Functionalizing a Metal-Organic Framework by a Photoassisted Multicomponent Postsynthetic Modification Approach Showing Highly Effective Hg(II) Removal.

We present here the first use of a photoassisted multicomponent postsynthetic modification method to anchor a ZIF-90 scaffold with a pyrimidinethione fragment. The resultant materials, namely, ZIF-90-THP and ZIF-90-THF, show ultrahigh Hg(II) adsorption capacity values of up to 596 and 403 mg/g, respectively, relative to the pristine ZIF-90, which just affords a corresponding value of 47 mg/g, suggesting a 12.7- and 8.6-fold enhancement in the Hg(II) adsorption capacity.

Effect of combination of rapamycin and cisplatin on human cervical carcinoma Hela cells.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the effect of combined use of rapamycin and cisplatin against Hela cells in vitro. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The inhibitory effects of rapamycin and cisplatin, used alone or combination, on the proliferation of Hela cell were measured with MTT assay and median-effect plot analysis. RESULTS: Combined use of rapamycin and cisplatin significantly improved the chemotherapeutic effect against Hela cells. The inhibitory rates were dose-dependent. Rapamycin and cisplatin showed synergistic effects in the chemotherapy of Hela cells (q > 1.15, King's formula). CONCLUSIONS: Combined use of rapamycin and cisplatin significantly improves the chemotherapeutic effect against Hela cells.