scholarly journals Characterization of iron speciation in single particles using XANES spectroscopy and micro X-ray fluorescence measurements: insight into factors controlling iron solubility

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 22771-22799 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Oakes ◽  
R. J. Weber ◽  
B. Lai ◽  
A. Russell ◽  
E. D. Ingall

Abstract. Soluble iron in fine atmospheric particles has been identified as a public health concern by participating in reactions that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mineralogy and oxidation state (speciation) of iron have been shown to influence solubility. In this study, iron speciation was determined in single particles at urban and rural sites in Georgia USA using X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy and microscopic X-ray fluorescence. Iron solubility of these samples was measured using spectrophotometry. These measurements (XANES and spectrophotometry) were combined to investigate the relationship between iron speciation and solubility in ambient aerosols. XANES measurements indicate that iron in the single particles was present as a mixture of Fe(II) and Fe(III), with Fe(II) content generally between 5 and 35 % (mean: ~25 %). XANES and elemental analyses indicate that a majority (74 %) of Fe particles are best characterized as Al-substituted Fe-oxides, with a Fe/Al molar ratio of 4.9. The next most abundant group of particles (12 %) was Fe-aluminosilicates, with Si/Al molar ratio of 1.4. No correlation was found between fractional iron solubility (soluble iron/total iron) and the abundance of Al-substituted Fe-oxides and Fe-aluminosilicates present in single particles at any of the sites during different seasons, suggesting solubility largely depended on factors other than differences in major iron phases.

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Oakes ◽  
R. J. Weber ◽  
B. Lai ◽  
A. Russell ◽  
E. D. Ingall

Abstract. Soluble iron in fine atmospheric particles has been identified as a public health concern by participating in reactions that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mineralogy and oxidation state (speciation) of iron have been shown to influence fractional iron solubility (soluble iron/total iron). In this study, iron speciation was determined in single particles at urban and rural sites in Georgia USA using synchrotron-based techniques, such as X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy and microscopic X-ray fluorescence measurements. Soluble and total iron content (soluble + insoluble iron) of these samples was measured using spectrophotometry and synchrotron-based techniques, respectively. These bulk measurements were combined with synchrotron-based measurements to investigate the relationship between iron speciation and fractional iron solubility in ambient aerosols. XANES measurements indicate that iron in the single particles was present as a mixture of Fe(II) and Fe(III), with Fe(II) content generally between 5 and 35% (mean: ~25%). XANES and elemental analyses (e.g. elemental molar ratios of single particles based on microscopic X-ray fluorescence measurements) indicate that a majority (74%) of iron-containing particles are best characterized as Al-substituted Fe-oxides, with a Fe/Al molar ratio of 4.9. The next most abundant group of particles (12%) was Fe-aluminosilicates, with Si/Al molar ratio of 1.4. No correlation was found between fractional iron solubility (soluble iron/total iron) and the abundance of Al-substituted Fe-oxides and Fe-aluminosilicates present in single particles at any of the sites during different seasons, suggesting solubility largely depended on factors other than differences in major iron phases.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 11237-11252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Takahashi ◽  
M. Higashi ◽  
T. Furukawa ◽  
S. Mitsunobu

Abstract. In the North Pacific, transport and deposition of mineral dust from Asia appear to be one of major sources of iron which can regulate growth of phytoplankton in the ocean. In this process, it is essential to identify chemical species of iron contained in Asian dust, because bioavailability of iron in the ocean is strongly influenced by the solubility of iron, which in turn is dependent on iron species in the dust. Here, we report that clay minerals (illite and chlorite) in the dusts near the source collected at Aksu (western China) can be transformed into ferrihydrite by atmospheric chemical processes during their long-range transport to eastern China (Qingdao) and Japan (Tsukuba) based on the speciation by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and other methods such as X-ray diffraction and chemical extraction. As a result, Fe molar ratio in Aksu (illite : chlorite : ferrihydrite = 70 : 25 : 5) was changed to that in Tsukuba (illite : chlorite : ferrihydrite = 65 : 10 : 25). Moreover, leaching experiments were conducted to study the change of iron solubility. It was found that the iron solubility for the dust in Tsukuba (soluble iron fraction: 11.8 % and 1.10 % for synthetic rain water and seawater, respectively) was larger than that in Aksu (4.1 % and 0.28 %, respectively), showing that iron in the dust after the transport becomes more soluble possibly due to the formation of ferrihydrite in the atmosphere. Our findings suggested that secondary formation of ferrihydrite during the transport should be considered as one of important processes in evaluating the supply of soluble iron to seawater.


1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. R. KRISHNAMURTI ◽  
P. M. HUANG

The influence of birnessite (δ-MnO2) on the precipitation products of iron was studied, in the FeCl2-NH4OH system at different Mn/Fe molar ratios (0, 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0) and in the acidic pH (4.0, 5.0 and 6.0) range, by X-ray, TEM, IR and chemical analyses. The precipitation products formed at pH 5.0 and 6.0 were found to be lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) in the absence of birnessite. Birnessite promoted increased precipitation of Fe oxide; the oxidation of Fe(II) by MnO2 was thermodynamically feasible and was confirmed by the presence of Mn(II) in the solution by ESR data. Birnessite also influenced the crystallization processes of hydrolytic products of Fe which range from lepidocrocite through goethite (α-FeOOH), akaganeite (β-FeOOH), to X-ray noncrystalline Fe oxides. The noncrystalline Fe oxides formed at a Mn/Fe molar ratio of 1.0 were characterized by infrared absorption maxima at 1400 and 750 cm−1. Key words: Birnessite, Fe(II) oxidation, ESR, lepidocrocite, akaganeite, noncrystalline oxide


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrit Koller ◽  
Alexander P Morrell ◽  
Rui Pedro Galão ◽  
Suzanne Pickering ◽  
Eithne MacMahon ◽  
...  

AbstractContaining the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge due to high rates of both horizontal transmissivity and asymptomatic carriage. Lateral Flow Device (LFD) immunoassays were introduced in late 2020 to rapidly detect SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic individuals in the population. Although LFD technologies have been used for over 60 years, their widespread use as a public health tool during a pandemic is unprecedented. By the end of 2020, data from studies into the efficacy of the LFDs emerged and showed these point-of-care devices to have very high specificity (ability to identify true negatives), but inadequate sensitivity with high false-negative rates. In particular, the low sensitivity (<50%) shown in several studies is a critical public health concern, given that asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic carriers may wrongly be assumed to be non-infectious, and posing a significant risk of further spread in the community. Here we show that the direct visual readout of SARS-CoV-2 LFDs is an inadequate approach to discriminate a potentially infective viral concentration in a bio-sample. Using high sensitivity synchrotron X-ray fluorescence imaging we were able to quantify significant immobilized antigen-antibody-label conjugates within the LFDs visually scored as negative. Correlating quantitative X-ray fluorescence measurements and qRT-PCR determined numbers of viral copies we identified that negatively scored samples could contain up to 100 PFU (equivalent here to ∼10,000 RNA copies/test). This is of significant concern should these tests be used to control community spread. The study demonstrates where the shortcomings arise in many of the current direct-readout SARS-CoV-2 LFDs, namely being a deficiency in the readout as opposed to the potential level of detection of the test which is orders of magnitude higher. Our findings are of importance both to public health monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic and to the rapid refinement of these tools for immediate and future applications.


Author(s):  
S. Cusack ◽  
J.-C. Jésior

Three-dimensional reconstruction techniques using electron microscopy have been principally developed for application to 2-D arrays (i.e. monolayers) of biological molecules and symmetrical single particles (e.g. helical viruses). However many biological molecules that crystallise form multilayered microcrystals which are unsuitable for study by either the standard methods of 3-D reconstruction or, because of their size, by X-ray crystallography. The grid sectioning technique enables a number of different projections of such microcrystals to be obtained in well defined directions (e.g. parallel to crystal axes) and poses the problem of how best these projections can be used to reconstruct the packing and shape of the molecules forming the microcrystal.Given sufficient projections there may be enough information to do a crystallographic reconstruction in Fourier space. We however have considered the situation where only a limited number of projections are available, as for example in the case of catalase platelets where three orthogonal and two diagonal projections have been obtained (Fig. 1).


Author(s):  
Peter D. Moisiuk ◽  
Daniel R. Beniac ◽  
Ross A. Ridsdale ◽  
Martin Young ◽  
Bhushan Nagar ◽  
...  

Venom from the rattlesnake Crotalus atrox contains a mixture of enzymes that induce a localized effect leading to hemorrhaging, necrosis and edema. As a member of the crotalid family of snake venoms, Crotalus atrox venom contains a C-type lectin that will agglutinate blood cells in a Ca2+-dependent fashion. The lectin is a hydrophilic protein, consisting of two covalently linked, 135 amino acid residues, identical subunits that are rich in aspartic acid, glutamic acid and lysine. Sequence homology with known carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) indicates that rattlesnake venom lectin (RSLV) contains a CRD motif that is not linked to accessory domains. Preliminary X-ray diffraction and sedimentation analysis has indicated that lectin from Crotalus atrox forms decamers composed of two five-fold symmetric pentamers. Single particles of RSVL imaged at – 171°C displayed two distinct orientations on the specimen support (Figure a) following incubation in a crystallization Teflon well, coated with a lipid monolayer consisting of phosphatidylcholine and monosialoganglioside. When lying in an end-on orientation, the lectin exhibited a “pentagonal ring” with an outer diameter of 6.7 nm and an inner hollow core of 1.7 nm. A side orientation was also seen, whereby a thickness of 5.8 nm was measured for the lectin. Image processing of 2280 single particles placed in 100 classes (Figure b) led to 3D reconstructions of RSVL (Figure c). Density limited 3D reconstructions showed the lectin to be made of two five-fold symmetrical rings covalently linked between the five subunits that constitute each ring of this homodimer. These results are consistent with sedimentation and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis on the shape of RSVL and provide the framework for structural verification by 2D electron crystallography.


Author(s):  
Snehamol Mathew ◽  
Priyanka Ganguly ◽  
Stephen Rhatigan ◽  
Vignesh Kumaravel ◽  
Ciara Byrne ◽  
...  

Indoor surface contamination by microbes is a major public health concern. A damp environment is one potential sources for microbe proliferation. Smart photocatalytic coatings on building surfaces using semiconductors like titania (TiO<sub>2</sub>) can effectively curb this growing threat.<b> </b>Metal-doped titania in anatase phase has been proved as a promising candidate for energy and environmental applications. In this present work, the antimicrobial efficacy of copper (Cu) doped TiO<sub>2 </sub>(Cu-TiO<sub>2</sub>) was evaluated against <i>Escherichia coli</i> (Gram-negative) and <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (Gram-positive) under visible light irradiation. Doping of a minute fraction of Cu (0.5 mol %) in TiO<sub>2 </sub>was carried out <i>via</i> sol-gel technique. Cu-TiO<sub>2</sub> further calcined at various temperatures (in the range of 500 °C – 700 °C) to evaluate the thermal stability of TiO<sub>2</sub> anatase phase. The physico-chemical properties of the samples were characterised through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-visible spectroscopy techniques. XRD results revealed that the anatase phase of TiO<sub>2</sub> was maintained well, up to 650 °C, by the Cu dopant. UV-DRS results suggested that the visible light absorption property of Cu-TiO<sub>2 </sub>was enhanced and the band gap is reduced to 2.8 eV. Density functional theory (DFT) studies emphasises the introduction of Cu<sup>+</sup> and Cu<sup>2+</sup> ions by replacing Ti<sup>4+</sup> ions in the TiO<sub>2</sub> lattice, creating oxygen vacancies. These further promoted the photocatalytic efficiency. A significantly high bacterial inactivation (99.9%) was attained in 30 mins of visible light irradiation by Cu-TiO<sub>2</sub>.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasneem Siddiquee ◽  
Abdul Goni

Chemical treatment of CoX<sub>2</sub><b><sup>. </sup></b>6H<sub>2</sub>O (X = Cl, Br, I) with the potentially tridentate PNP pincer ligand 2,6-bis(di-<i>tert</i>-butylphosphinomethyl)pyridine in 1:1 molar ratio results in cobalt(II) halide-PNP pincer complexes. The effect of the hydrated metal source on molecular structure and geometry of the complexes was studied by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The complexes are neutral and the cobalt center adopts a penta-coordinate system with potential atropisomerization. Within the unit cell there are two distinct molecules per asymmetric unit. One of the two phosphorus atoms in the PNP ligand was observed to be partially oxidized to phosphinoxide. Disorder in the structure reflects a mixture of square pyramidal and distorted tetrahedral geometry.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
Sonam Goyal ◽  
Maizatul Shima Shaharun ◽  
Ganaga Suriya Jayabal ◽  
Chong Fai Kait ◽  
Bawadi Abdullah ◽  
...  

A set of novel photocatalysts, i.e., copper-zirconia imidazolate (CuZrIm) frameworks, were synthesized using different zirconia molar ratios (i.e., 0.5, 1, and 1.5 mmol). The photoreduction process of CO2 to methanol in a continuous-flow stirred photoreactor at pressure and temperature of 1 atm and 25 °C, respectively, was studied. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized catalysts were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The highest methanol activity of 818.59 µmol/L.g was recorded when the CuZrIm1 catalyst with Cu/Zr/Im/NH4OH molar ratio of 2:1:4:2 (mmol/mmol/mmol/M) was employed. The enhanced yield is attributed to the presence of Cu2+ oxidation state and the uniformly dispersed active metals. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the reaction parameters. The predicted results agreed well with the experimental ones with the correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.99. The optimization results showed that the highest methanol activity of 1054 µmol/L.g was recorded when the optimum parameters were employed, i.e., stirring rate (540 rpm), intensity of light (275 W/m2) and photocatalyst loading (1.3 g/L). The redox potential value for the CuZrIm1 shows that the reduction potential is −1.70 V and the oxidation potential is +1.28 V for the photoreduction of CO2 to methanol. The current work has established the potential utilization of the imidazolate framework as catalyst support for the photoreduction of CO2 to methanol.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1238
Author(s):  
Eduardo Laga ◽  
David Dalmau ◽  
Sofía Arregui ◽  
Olga Crespo ◽  
Ana I. Jimenez ◽  
...  

The goal of the work reported here was to amplify the fluorescent properties of 4-aryliden-5(4H)-oxazolones by suppression of the hula-twist non-radiative deactivation pathway. This aim was achieved by simultaneous bonding of a Pd center to the N atom of the heterocycle and the ortho carbon of the arylidene ring. Two different 4-((Z)-arylidene)-2-((E)-styryl)-5(4H)-oxazolones, the structures of which are closely related to the chromophore of the Kaede protein and substituted at the 2- and 4-positions of the arylidene ring (1a OMe; 1b F), were used as starting materials. Oxazolones 1a and 1b were reacted with Pd(OAc)2 to give the corresponding dinuclear orthometalated palladium derivates 2a and 2b by regioselective C–H activation of the ortho-position of the arylidene ring. Reaction of 2a (2b) with LiCl promoted the metathesis of the bridging carboxylate by chloride ligands to afford dinuclear 3a (3b). Mononuclear complexes containing the orthopalladated oxazolone and a variety of ancillary ligands (acetylacetonate (4a, 4b), hydroxyquinolinate (5a), aminoquinoline (6a), bipyridine (7a), phenanthroline (8a)) were prepared from 3a or 3b through metathesis of anionic ligands or substitution of neutral weakly bonded ligands. All species were fully characterized and the X-ray determination of the molecular structure of 7a was carried out. This structure has strongly distorted ligands due to intramolecular interactions. Fluorescence measurements showed an increase in the quantum yield (QY) by up to one order of magnitude on comparing the free oxazolone (QY < 1%) with the palladated oxazolone (QY = 12% for 6a). This fact shows that the coordination of the oxazolone to the palladium efficiently suppresses the hula-twist deactivation pathway.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document