COVID-19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic; early identification of severe illness is critical for controlling it and improving the prognosis of patients with limited medical resources. The present study aimed to analyze the characteristics of severe COVID-19 and identify biomarkers for differential diagnosis and prognosis prediction. In total, 27 consecutive patients with COVID-19 and 75 patients with flu were retrospectively enrolled. Clinical parameters were collected from electronic medical records. The disease course was divided into four stages: initial, progression, peak, and recovery stages, according to computed tomography (CT) progress. to mild COVID-19, the lymphocytes in the severe COVID-19 progressively decreased at the progression and the peak stages, but rebound in the recovery stage. The levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the severe group at the initial and progression stages were higher than those in the mild group. Correlation analysis showed that CRP (R = .62; P < .01), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (R = .55; P < .01) and granulocyte/ lymphocyte ratio (R = .49; P < .01) were positively associated with the CT severity scores. In contrast, the number of lymphocytes (R = −.37; P < .01) was negatively correlated with the CT severity scores. The receiver-operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that area under the curve of CRP on the first visit for predicting severe COVID-19 was 0.87 (95% CI 0.10-1.00) at 20.42 mg/L cut-off, with sensitivity and specificity 83% and 91%, respectively. CRP in severe COVID-19 patients
Instability of most prototypical metal organic frameworks (MOFs) in the presence of moisture is always a limitation for industrial scale development. In this work, we examine the dissociation mechanism of microporous paddle wheel frameworks M(bdc)(ted) 0.5 [M=Cu, Zn, Ni, Co; bdc= 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate; ted= triethylenediamine] in controlled humidity environments. Combined in-situ IR spectroscopy, Raman, and Powder x-ray diffraction measurements show that the stability and modification of isostructual M(bdc)(ted) 0.5 compounds upon exposure to water vapor critically depend on the central metal ion. A hydrolysis reaction of water molecules with Cu-O-C is observed in the case of Cu(bdc)(ted) 0.5 . Displacement reactions of ted linkers by water molecules are identified with Zn(bdc)(ted) 0.5 and Co(bdc)(ted) 0.5 . In contrast, . Ni(bdc)(ted) 0.5 is less susceptible to reaction with water vapors than the other three compounds. In addition, the condensation of water vapors into the framework is necessary to initiate the dissociation reaction. These findings, supported by supported by first principles theoretical van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) calculations of overall reaction enthalpies, provide the necessary information for determining operation conditions of this class of MOFs with paddle wheel secondary building units and guidance for developing more robust units.
Sufficient pore size, appropriate stability, and hierarchical porosity are three prerequisites for open frameworks designed for drug delivery, enzyme immobilization, and catalysis involving large molecules. Herein, we report a powerful and general strategy, linker thermolysis, to construct ultrastable hierarchically porous metal-organic frameworks (HP-MOFs) with tunable pore size distribution. Linker instability, usually an undesirable trait of MOFs, was exploited to create mesopores by generating crystal defects throughout a microporous MOF crystal via thermolysis. The crystallinity and stability of HP-MOFs remain after thermolabile linkers are selectively removed from multivariate metal-organic frameworks (MTV-MOFs) through a decarboxylation process. A domain-based linker spatial distribution was found to be critical for creating hierarchical pores inside MTV-MOFs. Furthermore, linker thermolysis promotes the formation of ultrasmall metal oxide nanoparticles immobilized in an open framework that exhibits high catalytic activity for Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions. Most importantly, this work provides fresh insights into the connection between linker apportionment and vacancy distribution, which may shed light on probing the disordered linker apportionment in multivariate systems, a long-standing challenge in the study of MTV-MOFs.
As an alternative technology to energy intensive distillations, adsorptive separation by porous solids offers lower energy cost and higher efficiency. Herein we report a topology-directed design and synthesis of a series of Zr-based metal-organic frameworks with optimized pore structure for efficient separation of C6 alkane isomers, a critical step in the petroleum refining process to produce gasoline with high octane rating. Zr6O4(OH)4(bptc)3 adsorbs a large amount of n-hexane but excluding branched isomers. The n-hexane uptake is ~70% higher than that of a benchmark adsorbent, zeolite-5A. A derivative structure, Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(abtc)2, is capable of discriminating all three C6 isomers and yielding a high separation factor for 3-methylpentane over 2,3-dimethylbutane. This property is critical for producing gasoline with further improved quality. Multicomponent breakthrough experiments provide a quantitative measure of the capability of these materials for separation of C6 alkane isomers. A detailed structural analysis reveals the unique topology, connectivity and relationship of these compounds.
Water dissociation represents one of the most important reactions in catalysis, essential to the surface and nano sciences [e.g., Hass et al., Science, 1998, 282, 265-268; Brown et al., Science 2001, 294, 67-69; Bikondoa et al., Nature 2005, 5, 189-192]. However, the dissociation mechanism on most oxide surfaces is not well understood due to the experimental challenges of preparing surface structures and characterizing reaction pathways. To remedy this problem, we propose the metal organic framework MOF-74 as an ideal model system to study water reactions. Its crystalline structure is well characterized; the metal oxide node mimics surfaces with exposed cations; and it degrades in water. Combining in situ IR spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we explored the MOF-74/water interaction as a function of vapor pressure and temperature. Here, we show that, while adsorption is reversible below the water condensation pressure (~19.7 Torr) at room temperature, a reaction takes place at ~150 ˚C even at low water vapor pressures. This important finding is unambiguously demonstrated by a clear spectroscopic signature for the direct reaction using D 2 O, which is not present using H 2 O due to strong phonon coupling. Specifically, a sharp absorption band appears at 970 cm -1 when D 2 O is introduced at above 150 ˚C, which we attribute to an O-D bending vibration on the phenolate linker. Although H 2 O undergoes a similar dissociation reaction, the corresponding O-H mode is too strongly coupled to MOF vibrations to detect. In contrast, the O-D mode falls in the phonon gap of the MOF and remains localized. First-principles calculations not only positively identify the O-D mode at 970 cm -1 but derive a pathway and kinetic barrier for the reaction and the final configuration: the D (H) atom is transferred to the oxygen of the linker phenolate group, producing the notable O-D absorption band at 970 cm -1 , while the OD (or OH) binds to the open metal sites. This finding explains water dissociation in this case and provides insight into the long-lasting question of MOF-74 degradation. Overall, it adds to the understanding of molecular water interaction with cation-exposed surfaces to enable development of more efficient catalysts for water dissociation.2
Supporting InformationABSTRACT: The importance of co-adsorption for applications of porous materials in gas separation has motivated fundamental studies, which have initially focused on the comparison of the binding energies of different gas molecules in the pores (i.e. energetics) and their overall transport. By examining the competitive co-adsorption of several small molecules in M-MOF-74 (M= Mg, Co, Ni) with in-situ infrared spectroscopy and ab initio simulations, we find that the binding energy at the most favorable (metal) site is not a sufficient indicator for prediction of molecular adsorption and stability in MOFs. Instead, the occupation of the open metal sites is governed by kinetics, whereby the interaction of the guest molecules with the MOF organic linkers controls the reaction barrier for molecular exchange. Specifically, the displacement of CO 2 adsorbed at the metal center by other molecules such as H 2 O, NH 3 , SO 2 , NO, NO 2 , N 2 , O 2 , and CH 4 is mainly observed for H 2 O and NH 3 , even though SO 2 , NO, and NO 2 , have higher binding energies (~70-90 kJ/mol) to metal sites than that of CO 2 (38 to 48 kJ/mol) and slightly higher than water (~60-80 kJ/mol). DFT simulations evaluate the barriers for H 2 O CO 2 and SO 2 CO 2 exchange to be ∼ 13 and 20 kJ/mol, respectively, explaining the slow exchange of CO 2 by SO 2 , compared to water. Furthermore, the calculations reveal that the kinetic barrier for this exchange is determined by the specifics of the interaction of the second guest molecule (e.g., H 2 O or SO 2 ) with the MOF ligands. Hydrogen bonding of H 2 O molecules with the nearby oxygen of the organic linker is found to facilitate the positioning of the H 2 O oxygen atom towards the metal center, thus reducing the exchange barrier. In contrast, SO 2 molecules interact with the distant benzene site, away from the metal center, hindering the exchange process. Similar considerations apply to the other molecules, accounting for much easier CO 2 exchange for NH 3 than for NO, NO 2 , CH 4 , O 2 , and N 2 molecules. In this work, critical parameters such as kinetic barrier and exchange pathway are first unveiled and provide insight into the mechanism of competitive co-adsorption, underscoring the need of combined studies, using spectroscopic methods and ab initio simulations to uncover the atomistic interactions of small molecules in MOFs that directly influence co-adsorption.
Insight into the structural variation of metal organic framework materials upon hydration.
Effective capture of radioactive organic iodides from nuclear waste remains a significant challenge due to the drawbacks of current adsorbents such as low uptake capacity, high cost, and non-recyclability. We report here a general approach to overcome this challenge by creating radioactive organic iodide molecular traps through functionalization of metal-organic framework materials with tertiary amine-binding sites. The molecular trap exhibits a high CH3I saturation uptake capacity of 71 wt% at 150 °C, which is more than 340% higher than the industrial adsorbent Ag0@MOR under identical conditions. These functionalized metal-organic frameworks also serve as good adsorbents at low temperatures. Furthermore, the resulting adsorbent can be recycled multiple times without loss of capacity, making recyclability a reality. In combination with its chemical and thermal stability, high capture efficiency and low cost, the adsorbent demonstrates promise for industrial radioactive organic iodides capture from nuclear waste. The capture mechanism was investigated by experimental and theoretical methods.
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