Ciprofloxacin, diclofenac, ibuprofen and 17α-ethinylestradiol differentially affect the activity of acetogens and methanogens in anaerobic communities

Pharmaceutical compounds end up in wastewater treatment plants but little is known on their effect towards the different microbial groups in anaerobic communities. In this work, the effect of the antibiotic Ciprooxacin (CIP), the non-steroidal anti-inammatory drugs Diclofenac (DCF) and Ibuprofen (IBP), and the hormone 17-ethinylestradiol (EE2), on the activity of acetogens and methanogens in anaerobic communities, was investigated. Microbial communities were more affected by CIP, followed by EE2, DCF and IBP, but the response of the different microbial groups was dissimilar. For concentrations of 0.01 to 0.1 mg/L, the specic methanogenic activity was not affected. Acetogenic bacteria were sensitive to CIP concentrations above 1 mg/L, while DCF and EE2 toxicity was only detected for concentrations higher than 10 mg/L, and IBP had no effect in all concentrations tested. Acetoclastic methanogens showed higher sensitivity to the presence of these micropollutants, being affect by all the tested pharmaceutical compounds although at different degrees. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens were not affected by any concentration, indicating their lower sensitivity to these compounds when compared to acetoclasts and acetogens.e Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Ana Rita Silva holds a Grant from FCT, reference SFRH/BD/131905/2017info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advances in structure elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry

The structural elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry plays an important role in modern life sciences and bioanalytical approaches. This review covers different soft and hard ionization techniques and figures of merit for modern mass spectrometers, such as mass resolving power, mass accuracy, isotopic abundance accuracy, accurate mass multiple-stage MS(n) capability, as well as hybrid mass spectrometric and orthogonal chromatographic approaches. The latter part discusses mass spectral data handling strategies, which includes background and noise subtraction, adduct formation and detection, charge state determination, accurate mass measurements, elemental composition determinations, and complex data-dependent setups with ion maps and ion trees. The importance of mass spectral library search algorithms for tandem mass spectra and multiple-stage MS(n) mass spectra as well as mass spectral tree libraries that combine multiple-stage mass spectra are outlined. The successive chapter discusses mass spectral fragmentation pathways, biotransformation reactions and drug metabolism studies, the mass spectral simulation and generation of in silico mass spectra, expert systems for mass spectral interpretation, and the use of computational chemistry to explain gas-phase phenomena. A single chapter discusses data handling for hyphenated approaches including mass spectral deconvolution for clean mass spectra, cheminformatics approaches and structure retention relationships, and retention index predictions for gas and liquid chromatography. The last section reviews the current state of electronic data sharing of mass spectra and discusses the importance of software development for the advancement of structure elucidation of small molecules

Nano metal fluorides: small particles with great properties

The recently developed fluorolytic sol–gel route to metal fluorides opens a very broad range of both scientific and technical applications of the accessible high surface area metal fluorides, many of which have already been applied or tested. Specific chemical properties such as high Lewis acidity and physical properties such as high surface area, mesoporosity and nanosize as well as the possibility to apply metal fluorides on surfaces via a non-aqueous sol make the fluorolytic synthesis route a very versatile one. The scope of its scientific and technical use and the state of the art are presented.Peer Reviewe