A major and growing concern within society is the lack of innovative and effective solutions to mitigate the challenge of environmental pollution. Uncontrolled release of pollutants into the environment as a result of urbanisation and industrialisation is a staggering problem of global concern. Although, the eco-toxicity of nanotechnology is still an issue of debate, however, nanoremediation is a promising emerging technology to tackle environmental contamination, especially dealing with recalcitrant contaminants. Nanoremediation represents an innovative approach for safe and sustainable remediation of persistent organic compounds such as pesticides, chlorinated solvents, brominated or halogenated chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and heavy metals. This comprehensive review article provides a critical outlook on the recent advances and future perspectives of nanoremediation technologies such as photocatalysis, nano-sensing etc., applied for environmental decontamination. Moreover, sustainability assessment of nanoremediation technologies was taken into consideration for tackling legacy contamination
Necessity and exploitation of fossil fuel products are implacable in serving the needs of humanity despite being a finite and limited resource. To meet the thrust of energy, biofuels derived from varieties of renewable resources are imperative in fulfilling the demand of renewable fuels on a large scale without creating environmental concerns. Biofuels are inevitably the result of the carbon fixation process which stores chemical energy, ultimately reducing the total amount of carbon dioxide. Different kinds of biofuels like bioethanol, biomethanol, biogas, and biodiesel are derived depending on varieties of feedstock materials. Among these, production of biodiesel augments the progression of clean and renewable fuel. In this review, we have discussed the production of biodiesel derived from various feedstock and using several processes like pyrolysis, direct blending, micro-emulsion, and trans-esterification, with critical discussion focussing on increasing biodiesel production using nanocatalysts. Biodiesel production mainly proceeds through homogenous and heterogeneous catalysis via trans-esterification method. The review further discusses the significance of nanocatalyst in heterogeneous catalysis based trans-esterification for large scale biodiesel production. With the advent of nanotechnology, designing and modification of nanocatalyst gives rise to attractive properties such as increased surface area, high thermal stability, and enhanced catalytic activity. The role of nanocatalysts have been extensively studied and investigated in regard to the increased biodiesel production. Along with the modification of nanocatalysts, we have briefly discussed the physico-chemical properties and the role of the optimization parameters as it plays a pivotal role in enhancing the biodiesel production commercially.
Development of nanocomposite based electrochemical sensors for detection of toxic chemicals describes an environmentally benign strategy for monitoring the health of ecosystem. Herein, we reported in situ preparation of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4) decorated Ag2S/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite sensor by facile precipitation method. The electrochemical studies demonstrated efficient electrocatalytic activity of ternary nanocomposite pasted glassy carbon electrode (g‐C3N4@Ag2S/NiFe2O4/GCE) for selective detection of formaldehyde. Moreover, fabricated sensor exhibit rapid amperometric response with excellent selectivity, remarkable sensitivity (1681 μA mmol L−1 cm−2) and lower detection limit (LOD: 1.63 μmol L−1). It is noteworthy to mention that sensor exhibits good operational and long‐term storage stability.
Novel biopolymer-based nanocomposites exhibit significant electrocatalytic activity towards glucose and aqueous ammonia detection with high sensitivity and low detection limits.
A new series of fatty acid amides viz. N-(4-methoxybenzyl)undec-10-enamide (5), (9Z, 12R)-12-Hydroxy-N-(4-methoxybenzyl)octadec-9-enamide (6) and N-(4-methoxy benzyl)oleamide (7) were synthesized by using a suitable synthetic route involving DCC and DMAP as catalysts. The synthesized compounds were characterized through FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. DNA binding studies through spectroscopy and molecular docking were performed to evaluate the binding mechanism of molecules (5–7) with (ctDNA). The inhibition zone with reference to standards, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Killing Concentration (MKC) values were determined to study the
in vitro
antimicrobial activity for tested compounds. Among all the tested compounds, the compound 6 containing hydroxy group at the fatty acid chain showed most powerful antifungal as well as antibacterial activity.
In this study fatty acid composition of petroleum ether (AP and TP) and biological potential (Antioxidant and antibacterial) of chloroform (AC and TC), methanol (AM and TM) extracts of Atropa belladonna L. and Thymus linearis Benth. respectively was obtained by Soxhlet extraction technique from seeds were investigated. Fatty acid profile was obtained by gas chromatography mass spectrometry, antioxidant potential (DPPH-2,2-di-phenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl; ABTS-2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and antibacterial activity against (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli and Klebesiella pneumonia) was also performed. Linoleic acid was dominantly found with 74.42% in AP and 84.39% in TP. In antioxidant assays, the dominant inhibition was shown by AM (84.98% and 83.90%) and TM (85.27% and 83.29%) as compared to BHT (93.72% and 90.87%) for DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging respectively at 200 µg/mL. Moreover, AM and TM extracts showed good antibacterial activity. In conclusion, these plants could be selected as an adequate species in agricultural system, in food and pharmaceutical industries.
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