Enhanced Fluoride Uptake by Layered Double Hydroxides under Alkaline Conditions: Solid-State NMR Evidence of the Role of Surface >MgOH Sites.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are potential low-cost filter materials for use in fluoride removal from drinking water, but molecular-scale defluoridation mechanisms are lacking. In this research, we employed 19F solid-state NMR spectroscopy to identify fluoride sorption products on 2:1 MgAl LDH and to reveal the relationship between fluoride sorption and the LDH structure. A set of six 19F NMR peaks centered at -140, -148, -156, -163, -176, and -183 ppm was resolved. Combining quantum chemical calculations based on density function theory (DFT) and 19F{27Al} transfer of populations in double resonance (TRAPDOR) analysis, we could assign the peaks at -140, -148, -156, and -163 ppm to Al-F (F coordinated to surface Al) and those at -176 and -183 ppm to Mg-F (F coordinated to surface Mg only). Interestingly, the spectroscopic data reveal that the formation of Al-F is the predominant mode of F- sorption at low pH, whereas the formation of Mg-F is predominant at high pH (or a higher Mg/Al ratio). This finding supports the fact that the F- uptake of 2:1 MgAl LDH was nearly six times that of activated alumina at pH 9. Overall, we explicitly revealed the different roles of the surface >MgOH and >AlOH sites of LDHs in defluoridation, which explained why the use of classic activated alumina for defluoridation is limited at high pH. The findings from this research may also provide new insights into material screening for potential filters for F- removal under alkaline conditions.

Evaluation of surface texture of dried Hami Jujube using optimized support vector machine based on visual features fusion.

The surface texture of dried jujube fruits is a significant quality grading criterion. This paper introduced a novel visual feature fusion based on connected region density, texture features, and color features. The single-scale Two-Dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transform was used to perform single-scale decomposition and reconstruction of dried Hami jujube image before visual features extraction. The connected region density was extracted by the two different algorithms, whereas the texture features were extracted by Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix and the color features were extracted by image processing algorithms. Based on selected features which obtained by correlation analysis of visual features, the accuracy rate of the optimized Support Vector Machine classification model was 96.67%. In comparing with Extreme Learning Machine classification model and other fusion methods, the optimized Support Vector Machine based on selected visual features fusion was better.

Phytotoxic, antibacterial, and antioxidant activities of mycotoxins and other metabolites from Trichoderma sp.

A new natural mycotoxin was isolated from the fermentation broth of Trichoderma sp. Jing-8 and the structure was determined as alternariol 1'-hydroxy-9-methyl ether (1), together with twelve known compounds. The structures were elucidated on the basis of their 1D, 2D NMR spectra and mass spectrometric data. Compounds 1, 8 and 9 indicated inhibitions against germination of the seeds of cabbage with MICs < 3 µg/mL. The compound 1 showed the antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus with MICs at 64 µg/mL. Compound 1 and 3 showed significant DPPH radical-scavenging activities with IC50 at 12 µg/mL, respectively. The OH at C-1' in compound 1 decreased the cytotoxicity of these mycotoxins. A primary structure-activity relationship about the alternariol derivatives was discussed. Compounds 2-7 and 8 were the first time to be isolated from the Trichoderma.

Enhanced succinic acid production under acidic conditions by introduction of glutamate decarboxylase system in E. coli AFP111.

Biological synthesis of succinic acid at low pH values was favored since it not only decreased investment cost but also simplified downstream purification process. In this study, the feasibility of using glutamate decarboxylase system to improve succinic acid production of Escherichia coli AFP111, a succinate-producing candidate with mutations in pfl, ldhA, and ptsG, under acidic conditions was investigated. By overexpressing gadBC operon in AFP111, a recombinant named as BA201 (AFP111/pMD19T-gadBC) was constructed. Fermentation at pH 5.6 showed that 30 g L-1 glucose was consumed and 26.58 g L-1 succinic acid was produced by BA201, which was 1.22- and 1.32-fold higher than that by the control BA200 (AFP111/pMD19T) containing the empty vector. Analysis of intracellular enzymes activities and ATP concentrations revealed that the activities of key enzymes involved in glucose uptake and products synthesis and intracellular ATP levels were all increased after overexpression of gadBC which were benefit for cell metabolism under weak acidic conditions. To further improve the succinic acid titer by recombinant BA201 at pH 5.6, the extracellular glutamate concentration was optimized and the final succinic acid titer increased 20.4% to 32.01 g L-1. Besides, the fermentation time was prolonged by repetitive fermentation and additional 15.78 g L-1 succinic acid was produced by recovering cells into fresh medium. The results here demonstrated a potential strategy of overexpressing gadBC for increased succinic acid production of E. coli AFP111 under weak acidic conditions.

Anti-phytopathogen, multi-target acetylcholinesterase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of metabolites from endophytic Chaetomium globosum.

Fourteen metabolites with various structure types were isolated from endophytic Chaetomium globosum. Five compounds were separated from genus Chaetomium for the first time. Some compounds exhibited remarkable inhibition against phytopathogenic fungi causing root rot of Panax notoginseng. Compounds 1-5 had significant DPPH-free radical-scavenging activity. Compounds 3 and 5 indicated significant inhibitions against the acetylcholinesterase (AChE). From preliminary structure-activity relationship, it was found that the oxygenic five-membered ring of 3 and 5 was crucial in the anti-AChE activity. These structures provide new templates for the potential treatment and management of plant diseases and Alzheimer disease.

A new polyoxygenated farnesylcyclohexenone from Fungus Penicillium sp.

A new polyoxygenated farnesylcyclohexenone, peniginsengin A (1), was isolated from the fermentation of Penicillium sp. YIM PH30003, an endophytic fungus associated with Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen. The structure was assigned based on a combination of 1 D and 2 D NMR and mass spectral data. The cytotoxicity and antimicrobial activities of compound 1 were investigated.