Novel Natural Glycyrrhetinic Acid-Derived Super Metal Gel and Its Highly Selective Dyes Removal

Abstract

Hydrogels play important roles in function materials, especially in wastewater treatment, that could solve the problems of microbial infections and dye pollutions. Herein, a natural glycyrrhetinic acid-derived gel was successfully constructed by forming hierarchical assemblies of the glycyrrhetinic acid derivatives (GA-O-09) with Cu2+. Interestingly, the GA-O-09/Cu2+ gel exhibited Cu2+-triggered shrinkage, which was helpful for spontaneous self-demolding through the shrinkage process with a precise amount of Cu2+. Moreover, the gel showed excellent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) at 2.5 μg/mL and 5.0 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the resultant GA-O-09/Cu2+ gel showed an excellent performance in dyes removal; the adsorption capacity at equilibrium (qe) could reach 82.91 mg/g according to a pseudo-second-order model, and it was better than most reported dye adsorbent materials. The experimental result suggested that the electrostatic interactions of the hydrogel with the cationic dyes and the hydrogel swelling were responsible for the possible dye removal mechanism of GA-O-09/Cu2+ gel. Therefore, our study holds the promise of a better future, for such a hydrogel could be used as an antibacterial and dye removal material.

Self-assembled glycyrrhetinic acid derivatives for functional applications: a review

“…68 The GA-O-09/Cu 2+ gel, as a hydrogel, also showed an excellent performance in dye removal with antimicrobial activity. 72 Furthermore, Gao and co-workers created the supramolecular helical nanofiber MGP (1-[2-(methyl glycyrrhetate)-2-oxoethyl] pyridinium bromide), and studied its self-assembly behavior in chloroform and aromatic solvents, revealing distinct helical handedness. 61 To demonstrate the universality of triterpenoid-pyridinium with various hydrophilic groups, triterpenoid units, and linkers, three tailored amphiphiles, named 1-[2-(methyl glycyrrhetate)-2-oxoethyl] – [4,4′] bromide bipyridinium bromide, 1-[4-(methyl glycyrrhetate)-4-oxobutyl] pyridinium, and 1-[4-(methyl oleanolate)-4-oxobutyl] pyridinium bromide, were synthesized and showed different helical nanostructures in mixed solvents of chloroform/ o -xylene, chloroform/toluene and methanol/water.…”

Terahertz Spectroscopic Insight into the Hydrogelation of Copper Ion-Coordinated Poly(vinyl alcohol)

“…Gao et al prepared PVA/PAA/Fe 3+ -GaIn hydrogel with certain antimicrobial properties and a good mechanical response [10]. In these works, various methods, including FTIR, UV-vis spectra [11][12][13][14] and EDS, XRD, XPS [15][16][17][18][19] and NMR [20], were used to study the interaction between metal ions and polymers. While valuable information on the molecular structure and the ion-induced changes in the polymers that occur during the formation of hydrogels has been obtained, the role and the involvement mechanism of metal ions in hydrogel formation is not fully understood.…”

Synthesis and CO2 Capture of Porous Hydrogel Particles Consisting of Hyperbranched Poly(amidoamine)s

“…To exploit the strengths of wet-scrubbing and a dry type adsorbent, we designed a hydrogel absorbent that works in an aqueous phase. A hydrogel is introduced because hydrogels are widely used as adsorbents for various substances such as heavy metal ions, dyes, and carbon dioxide due to their high adsorption performance and ease of use in an aqueous solution [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Because amines are verified carbon dioxide absorbers in wet-scrubbing processes by forming carbamate and ammonium bicarbonate with CO 2 , we adopted poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) as our key functional material.…”