Materials Chemistry Horizons
Volume:1 Issue: 1, May 2022

1,3‐Oxazole is an essential compound in drug production with many uses. This compound can be produced by the reaction of the hydrogen cyanide and ethanol. For this reaction, it is mostly used a toxic and expensive metal as a catalyst. So, introducing an inexpensive and metal-free catalyst for this reaction may be helpful. For this aim, we studied the boron nitride nanotube with the characteristic properties. The surface activity of boron nitride nanotube was improved by substituting one boron atom with an aluminum atom for this reaction. In this work, we studied the possible interactions between the hydrogen cyanide and ethanol molecules on the surface of the aluminum doped boron nitride nanotube. We studied about the electrostatic potential surfaces to predict possible interactions and surface activity. Also, the thermodynamic parameters have been calculated for the adsorption processes. The calculated thermodynamic parameters show that the adsorption of these molecules on the aluminum-doped boron nitride nanotube is exothermic and thermodynamically favored.

Pharmaceutical pollutants are toxic trace components in natural environment. In this work, removing of Sumatriptan Succinate from the contaminated water by photocatalytic degradation reaction was investigated. Nano particles of ZnO, Fe (0.01 and 0.05) doped ZnO and TiO2-ZnO composites were constructed by co precipitation method and characterized by FTIR, XRD, XRF, TGA, FE-SEM, BET-BJH and UV-Vis spectroscopy methods. Then, the effects of various operating parameters of reaction temperature (10 to 80°C), reaction time (15 to 60 min), pH of solution (4-11), concentration of pharmaceutical pollutant (8 to 25 ᵡ10-6 M), dose of nanocatalysts (0.8 to 4.5 mg) and the stability or reusability of produced nanocatalysts on the degradation efficiency were studied. Based on the reported results, maximum degradation efficiency is about 70% for Fe (0.05) doped ZnO with 60 min reaction time, 1.5 mg catalyst weight and contaminating concentration of 8ᵡ10-6 M.

In the present study, a new magnetic nanocomposite was synthesized with capability to remove the dye pollutant from aqueous solutions. In the first step, magnetite nanoparticle was synthesized via co-precipitation method and then, they were modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and acryloyl chloride, respectively. Then itaconic acid (IA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate were grafted on the modified nanoparticles via in situ copolymerization to prepare the final nanocomposite. The prepared nanocomposite was used as the adsorbent for removal of the methylene blue as a typical dye from aqueous solutions. According to the obtained results, the nanocomposite showed high adsorption efficiency toward the methylene blue dye within 15 minutes and the other optimized values are as: pH=11, adsorbent dosage=30 mg, initial concentration of the dye=20 ppm. Different parameters such as pH, amount of adsorbent, initial concentration of the dye, and contact time were investigated and optimized. Moreover, the synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by different methods such as FT-IR, VSM, TGA, XRD, and FE-SEM analyses. The result of VSM shows that the obtained nanocomposite have a magnetic property, which ease its separation and its amount, is 31.72 emu.g-1.

Nanomaterials are structures with dimensions less than 100 nm. Among different nanomaterials, metal- and carbon-based nanoarchitectures have attracted interest due to their ease of production, biocompatibility, low cost, excellent physio-chemistry characteristics, and biological activities. They are synthesized by various methods such as physical, chemical, and biological methods Biosynthesized nanomaterials exhibit remarkably improved biological activities such as antioxidant and antibacterial capabilities. Antioxidant nanomaterials can shield molecules from oxidation processes by decelerating or preventing them from oxidizing in the first place. These nanomaterials are widely used in the food industries and biomedical sectors. Several factors (e.g., size, shape, composition, and synthesized procedure) may influence the antimicrobial activity of these nanocompounds. It was shown that biosynthesized nanomaterials have higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activities than those by conventional methods. In the present review, we overview the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of biosynthesized metal- and carbon-based nanoarchitectures. In addition, the mechanism of antimicrobial activity, as well as commonly used methods to measure the antioxidant activity of nanomaterials, are highlighted.

This study explores the incorporation of aqueous methylene blue (MB+) into a specially prepared metal oxide host.  Derived from the chemical exfoliation of KTiNbO5 into nanosheet colloids, the host material was synthesized in water using acid to restack the colloids into aggregates of nanosheets.  The metal oxide host has a large open pore, disordered, and turbostratic layered structure.  When exposed to aqueous solutions of MB+, within minutes the novel host rapidly intercalated MB+ to saturation, to produce an organic-inorganic composite with an MB+ loading of 226 mg/g.  Well-rinsed composites exhibited a deep purple color, indicative of the high internal content of MB+.  The MB+ loading was quantified using EDX and UV-Vis spectrophotometry.  Small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were carried out and analyzed using a unified exponential/power-law (UEP) model to describe the composite’s nanostructure.  SAXS analyses indicated that intercalated material is composed of two phases, each with different layer spacings for the restacked sheets.  Compared to transmission spectra of aqueous MB+, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis absorption spectra of composite revealed changes in the absorbance maxima of the intercalated MB+, indicating that the MB+ molecules were interacting strongly with each other and with the oxide host.  Raman and IR spectra also revealed significant host-guest interactions.  As determined by x-ray diffraction, the measured layer spacing between restacked nanosheets in the composite is consistent with a molecular orientation of MB+ standing on the end but tilted 40.4° away from the plane of the sheets.  Electron microscopy analysis showed that there were no significant morphological changes occurred in the porous host aggregates during the intercalation of MB+.  From an electrostatics evaluation, the new organic-inorganic composite materials were found to contain 40 % of the theoretical maximum of MB+, which resulted in an empirical formula of (MB)0.4H0.6TiNbO5.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. The implementation of new technological tools can improve prevention strategies, diagnostics, and treatment systems for this group of diseases. Microfluidic devices like Organs on a Chip are being considered a rising approach in biological cancer studies. They involve volumes down to less than microliters and usually do not require specialized machinery and materials to be produced. Therefore, they are potentially used in clinical settings without restriction. In addition, microfluidic platforms have a high potential for mimicking biological conditions. They are recognized as promising tools in cancer fields like single cell detection, fluid biopsy, drug screening modeling, angiogenesis, and metastasis. This review describes the fabrication methods and application of microfluidic platforms in cancer therapy.