Recycling Oxacillin Residues from Environmental Waste into Graphene Quantum Dots

Of great concern are the residual antibiotics from dirt that can be found in farm soil and wastewater. This kind of emerging pollutant into engineered nanomaterials is riveting. This work proposes the elimination and transformation of a beta-lactam antibiotic, oxacillin, from environmental waste to graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Two protocols were followed in which the use of ethylenediamine (EDA) in the transformation leads to GQDs with excellent optical properties. Therefore, two types of GQDs were synthesized in a Teflon-lined stainless autoclave by a thermal procedure using oxacillin in the absence and presence of EDA. The ensuing e-GQDs from oxacillin and EDA display a stronger fluorescence emission in comparison to those synthesized without EDA (o-GQDs). The combination of Kaiser test analyses, infrared (IR) and Raman measurements revealed the presence of oxygen-containing groups and primary amines at the edges of the graphitic nanolayer for e-GQDs. This straightforward strategy brings hope and opens a new interest in waste recycling by means of extracting residual contaminants from the environment for their further transformation into adequate non-toxic graphitic nanomaterials with potential applications

1,3-Bis(carboxymethyl)imidazolium Chloride as a Metal-Free and Recyclable Catalyst for the Synthesis of N-Allylanilines by Allylic Substitution of Alcohols

The 1,3-bis(carboxymethyl)imidazolium chloride, which is easily and in a straightforward manner prepared readily from starting materials in multigram scale, is employed as catalyst in the synthesis of N-allylanilines by allylic substitution of alcohols with anilines. This metal-free catalyst allows the reaction to be carried out under mild reaction conditions (80 °C and air open vessel) and proved to be efficient for a diversity of anilines and allylic alcohols, providing exclusively the product of N-substitution independently of the substituents in the aniline reactant. The process described is simple and effective, allowing N-allylanilines to be obtained in preparative scale [e.g., 3.30 g of N-(1,3-diphenylallyl)-4-nitroaniline]. The catalyst could be reused up to 15 cycles without loss of activity, proving its robustness.This work was financially supported by the University of Alicante (VIGROB-285) and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CTQ2015-66624-P). M.A.S. thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte for a predoctoral fellowship (FPU15/06040)