Basu Kingshuk, Nandi Nibedita, Mondal Biplab, Dehsorkhi Ashkan, Hamley Ian W, Banerjee Arindam
Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India.
Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD, UK.
Interface Focus. 2017 Dec 6;7(6):20160128. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2016.0128. Epub 2017 Oct 20.
A low molecular weight peptide-based ambidextrous gelator molecule has been discovered for efficient control of water pollution. The gelator molecules can gel various organic solvents with diverse polarity, e.g. -hexane, -octane, petroleum ether, petrol, diesel, aromatic solvents like chlorobenzene, toluene, benzene, -xylene and even aqueous phosphate buffer of pH 7.5. These gels have been thoroughly characterized using various techniques including field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction analysis, small angle X-ray scattering and rheological experiments. Interestingly, hydrogel obtained from the gelator molecule has been found to absorb toxic organic dyes (both cationic and anionic dyes) from dye-contaminated water. The gelator molecule can be reused for several cycles, indicating its possible future use in waste water management. Moreover, this gelator can selectively gel petrol, diesel, pump oil from an oil-water mixture in the presence of a carrier solvent, ethyl acetate, suggesting its efficient application for oil spill recovery. These results indicate that the peptide-based ambidextrous gelator produces soft materials (gels) with dual function: (i) removal of toxic organic dyes in waste water treatment and (ii) oil spill recovery.
已发现一种基于低分子量肽的双功能凝胶剂分子，可有效控制水污染。该凝胶剂分子能使各种极性不同的有机溶剂凝胶化，例如正己烷、辛烷、石油醚、汽油、柴油，以及诸如氯苯、甲苯、苯、二甲苯等芳香族溶剂，甚至能使pH值为7.5的磷酸盐水溶液凝胶化。已使用多种技术对这些凝胶进行了全面表征，包括场发射扫描电子显微镜、傅里叶变换红外光谱、X射线粉末衍射分析、小角X射线散射和流变学实验。有趣的是，已发现由该凝胶剂分子得到的水凝胶能从受染料污染的水中吸收有毒有机染料（阳离子染料和阴离子染料）。该凝胶剂分子可重复使用多个循环，表明其在废水管理方面可能具有的未来用途。此外，在载体溶剂乙酸乙酯存在的情况下，这种凝胶剂能从油水混合物中选择性地使汽油、柴油、泵油凝胶化，表明其在溢油回收方面的高效应用。这些结果表明，基于肽的双功能凝胶剂能产生具有双重功能的软材料（凝胶）：（i）在废水处理中去除有毒有机染料；（ii）进行溢油回收。
