Ti leaching from activated ilmenite-Fe mixture at different milling energy levels

Mechanical activation processes on ilmenite concentrate were performed in three different energy levels. Iron powder as a reducing agent was added to ilmenite in the milling stage and the mechanically activated mixture was subjected to acid leaching. The leaching experiments were designed using the Taguchi method, and the optimum ranges were obtained. Furthermore, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the critical parameters in the leaching system to achieve the highest titanium (Ti) leachability. Based on the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) results, maximum leaching recovery of Ti (80%) was obtained using activated Ti concentrates at a medium activation energy level, which is calculated to be 25.38 kJ/g, using 15vol% hydrochloric acid (HCl), a temperature of 70℃, leaching time of 3 h, and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 0.05 g·mL-1. Intensifying the milling energy from a low to high level led to a decrease in the mean crystallite size and also structure homogenization at the high energy level. According to the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, the mean grain size of the ilmenite/Fe nanocomposite was about 30 nm at the medium energy level sample. Finally, solvent extraction by tributyl phosphate (TBP) was performed on the leach liquor to separate dissolved Fe (the major impurity) from Ti, which led to 83% extraction recovery of Ti.     

Characterization of mechanothermally processed nanostructured ZnO

In this paper, the Taguchi method with an L₉(34) orthogonal array was used as experimental design to determine the optimum conditions for preparing ZnO nanoparticles via a mechanothermal route. ZnSO₄·H₂O and Na₂CO₃ were used as starting materials. The effects of milling time, Na₂CO₃/ZnSO₄·H₂O molar ratio, and ball-to-powder mass ratio (BPR) on the bandgap (E_g) of ZnO nanoparticles were investigated. The ranges of the investigated experimental conditions were 5–15 h for the milling time (t), 1.0–1.2 for the Na₂CO₃/ZnSO₄·H₂O molar ratio (M), and 10–30 for BPR. The milling time and BPR exhibited significant effects; an increase in milling time reduced the bandgap. The optimum conditions from this study were t₃ = 15 h, M₁ = 1, and BPR₂ = 20. Only two significant factors (t₃, 15 h; BPR₂, 20) were used to estimate the performance at the optimum conditions. The calculated bandgap was 3.12 eV, in reasonable agreement with the experimental results obtained under the optimized conditions.     

FRET studies of various conformational states adopted by transthyretin

Transthyretin (TTR) is an extracellular protein able to deposit into well-defined protein aggregates called amyloid, in pathological conditions known as senile systemic amyloidosis, familial amyloid polyneuropathy, familial amyloid cardiomyopathy and leptomeningeal amyloidosis. At least three distinct partially folded states have been described for TTR, including the widely studied amyloidogenic state at mildly acidic pH. Here, we have used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments in a monomeric variant of TTR (M-TTR) and in its W41F and W79F mutants, taking advantage of the presence of a unique, solvent-exposed, cysteine residue at position 10, that we have labelled with a coumarin derivative (DACM, acceptor), and of the two natural tryptophan residues at positions 41 and 79 (donors). Trp41 is located in an ideal position as it is one of the residues of β-strand C, whose degree of unfolding is debated. We found that the amyloidogenic state at low pH has the same FRET efficiency as the folded state at neutral pH in both M-TTR and W79F-M-TTR, indicating an unmodified Cys10–Trp41 distance. The partially folded state populated at low denaturant concentrations also has a similar FRET efficiency, but other spectroscopic probes indicate that it is distinct from the amyloidogenic state at acidic pH. By contrast, the off-pathway state accumulating transiently during refolding has a higher FRET efficiency, indicating non-native interactions that reduce the Cys10–Trp41 spatial distance, revealing a third distinct conformational state. Overall, our results clarify a negligible degree of unfolding of β-strand C in the formation of the amyloidogenic state and establish the concept that TTR is a highly plastic protein able to populate at least three distinct conformational states.     

Antifungal activity of magnetically separable Fe3O4/ZnO/AgBr nanocomposites prepared by a facile microwave-assisted method

In the present work, magnetically separable Fe-₃O₄/ZnO/AgBr nanocomposites with different weight ratios of Fe₃O₄ to ZnO/AgBr were prepared by a facile microwave-assisted method. The resultant samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, energy dispersive analysis of X-rays（EDX）, and vibrating sample magnetometery（VSM）. Antifungal activity of the as-prepared samples was evaluated against Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium oxysporum as two phytopathogenic fungi. Among the nanocomposites, the sample with 1:8 weight ratio of Fe₃O₄ to ZnO/AgBr was selected as the best nanocomposite. This nanocomposite inactivates Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium oxysporum at 120 and 60 min, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that the microwave irradiation time has considerable influence on the antifungal activity and the sample prepared by irradiation for 10 min showed the best activity. Moreover, the nanocomposite without any thermal treatment displayed the superior activity.