RSC Advances Blog

We are very pleased to introduce Michael Eze, the corresponding author of the paper ‘Ethanol-blended petroleum fuels: implications of co-solvency for phytotechnologies‘. His article has been very well received and handpicked by our reviewers and handling editors as one of our February HOT articles. Michael was kind enough to tell us more about the work that went into this article and what he hopes to achieve in the future. You can find out more about the author and their article below and find more HOT articles in our online collection.

Meet the Author

Michael Onyedika Eze is a third year Cotutelle PhD student between Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and Georg-August University, Goettingen, Germany. For this dual doctoral research, he was awarded the Australian Commonwealth scholarship, the Macquarie University Cotutelle Research Excellence scholarship and the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship. Prior to starting his PhD, he obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Pure and Industrial Chemistry from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry. Michael is a passionate science communicator, receiving a 1^st Place Award in a Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, as well as being a Finalist in a Falling Walls Lab Competition. He is also a recipient of various travel and research grants including the Royal Society of Chemistry competitive travel grants for PhD students and early career researchers, the European Association of Geochemistry travel grants, and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia 2018 tertiary institution grant, among others. In 2019, he was awarded the Carlos Walter M. Campos Memorial Award by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) for the Best International Student Paper at the 2019 AAPG international conference and exhibition.

Michael’s current research interest focuses on rhizoremediation of organic contaminants. Michael takes an interdisciplinary approach (involving organic geochemistry, geomicrobiology and genomics) and seeks to develop novel plant-microbe symbionts for enhanced rhizoremediation of petroleum contaminated sites. He also aims to fully delineate genes responsible for petroleum degradation and their pathways with the goal of revolutionising the way oil spills and other environmental contaminants are cleaned up.

Picture of the Organic Geochemistry Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Group Leader: Professor Simon C. George

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?
Our article describes the effect that the current practice of adding ethanol to petroleum fuels could have on the effectiveness of phytoremediation as a reclamation strategy for soils contaminated with oil spills.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
Around the globe, petroleum contamination remains the most persistent environmental problem resulting from oil and gas operations. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) estimated that rehabilitation can cost over $US1 million per hectare using traditional methods. Thus, developing an affordable and eco-friendly remediation technique will have global impact.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
The motivation for this research stems from a number of reasons. On one hand, natural attenuation exhibit slow metabolic activity. On the other hand, traditional methods of remediation are very expensive and environmentally unfriendly. As a result, a number of contaminated sites are left as is or their rehabilitation is postponed. Suffice to say that the future of humanity hangs in the balance if our assault on “mother nature” does not receive commensurate attention. While microbial-enhanced rhizoremediation may prove to be the panacea, its success relies on the containment of contaminants within the rooting zones of plants. It thus implies that any energy innovation that increases the leaching potentials of hydrocarbons beyond the rhizospheric zones will limit the effectiveness of phytotechnology as a reclamation strategy for oil spills. Since ethanol is a co-solvent, we therefore decided to first examine its effect on the leaching potentials of both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. That is the crux of this paper.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
Well, owing to the interdisciplinary nature of my research, my PhD programme is domiciled in two different departments and in two separate continents. As a result, I am expected to submit two theses for the awards of PhD in Organic Geochemistry (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) and Dr. rer. nat. in Genomics and Applied Microbiology (Georg-August University, Goettingen, Germany). Thus, I needed to make sure from the outset that the entire research with its four separate projects are properly linked together and feasible, while maintaining the overarching aim of the research.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
For this particular experiment, setting up the leaching column was something that needed a careful thought. Controlling the two major factors that affect soil total petroleum hydrocarbon content, namely biodegradation and volatilisation while in the column seemed to be challenging. The methodology employed to achieve this is discussed in the paper.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
In view of the extensive use of high throughput sequencing techniques in my study, I am beginning to delineate genes and degradation pathways involved in hydrocarbon-degradation. Gaining insight into the full genomes and metagenomes of plant growth-promoting and hydrocarbon-degrading rhizobacteria is not only exciting but exhilarating!

What is the next step? What work is planned?
Today, the majority of research is still exploring remediation by plant or single microorganisms. What we can expect is more focus on plant-microbiome interactions. Our goal is to develop the right plant-microbe symbionts for effective remediation of petroleum contaminated sites. The results discussed in this article and that from our subsequent projects (phytotoxicity screening and microbial genomics) will guide us towards the achievement of this noble goal. By directing our attention to full genomes of plant-microbe symbionts, we hope to gain a better understanding of the integrated activity of plants and oil-degrading microbes. Armed with this knowledge we will be able to engineer microbes that can degrade hydrocarbon spills even better. Additionally, in the near future, I hope to direct my attention to extremophiles, that is, organisms that maintain optimal growth in environmental conditions considered extreme. This, I hope, will prove useful for environments with mixed contaminants such as those with petroleum and heavy metals/acidic contaminants.

Ethanol-blended petroleum fuels: implications of co-solvency for phytotechnologies
Michael O. Eze and Simon C. George
RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 6473-6481
DOI: 10.1039/C9RA10919F, Paper

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We are very pleased to introduce Dr Selma Leulmi Pichot, the corresponding author of the paper ‘Versatile magnetic microdiscs for the radio enhancement and mechanical disruption of glioblastoma cancer cells‘. Her article has been very well received and handpicked by our reviewers and handling editors as one of our February HOT articles. Selma was kind enough to tell us more about the work that went into this article and what she hopes to achieve in the future. You can find out more about the author and their article below and find more HOT articles in our online collection.

Meet the Author

Selma Pichot completed her undergraduate engineering degree in Biology at the University of Algiers (Algeria), before moving to France for a Research Master in Nanosciences, with a focus in Nanobiotechnologies. After completing a PhD in Physics for life science at the University of Grenoble in 2014, she took up a research associate position with Professor Cowburn at the University of Cambridge to work on the use of magnetic micro and nanostructures for biological and biomedical applications.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?
Our article describes the use of a new type of magnetic microparticle to improve the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
Our results demonstrate that we have powerful tools that can efficiently contribute to improve the current treatment of glioblastoma. Moreover, when used as an adjunct to surgery, the magnetic microdiscs have the potential to shorten the course of radiation therapy in countries where access to radiation therapy is scarce.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with a median survival for diagnosed patients being 12-15 months with actual treatment modalities. With such a terrible prognosis, we believe current advances in magnetism and nanotechnology could provide new insights to open up the current bottlenecks in the treatment of this devastating disease.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
To conduct such a study, we must first have microdiscs that have perfectly controlled magnetic behavior. This includes the fact that they do not agglomerate in liquid, and that they can deliver significant forces when activated by a magnetic field, in order to destabilize the internal structures of cancer cells. Another important element is the fact that the microdiscs must be able to reach a suitable cellular location to enhance the effect of the radiotherapy very locally, at the intracellular level.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
The first challenging aspect of this work is to construct high quality magnetic microdiscs with the specific desired properties. The microdiscs are fabricated by the deposition of ultra thin films of alternating layers of magnetic and non magnetic materials. Inspired by processes often used in the manufacture of MRAM magnetic memory devices, we control these film thicknesses with sub-nanometre resolution. Another important part of the work was in the optimisation of the experimental parameters for the in vitro testing with the cancer cells to ensure that our testing methodology was robust.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
At the moment, I am very excited in using cutting edge physics to solve current challenges in areas like cancer biology and more recently, in microbiology. There are also a variety of new directions that would be very interesting to explore in the field of neurobiology and the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases for example.

What is the next step? What work is planned?
Of course after such positive results, we would like to take this work a step further. Now that we have a good proof of concept on our initial hypothesis, we would like to translate our results into a realistic in vitro model. This includes for example the use of patient derived cancer cells to construct 3D structures that structurally and functionally mimics the glioblastoma tumoral cavity. A very important aspect is to continue working closely with clinicians to translate this research into clinic.

Versatile magnetic microdiscs for the radio enhancement and mechanical disruption of glioblastoma cancer cells
Selma Leulmi Pichot, Sabrina Bentouati, Saif S. Ahmad, Marios Sotiropoulos, Raj Jenab and Russell Cowburn
RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 8161-8171
DOI: 10.1039/D0RA00164C, Paper

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We are very pleased to introduce Dr Sheta M. Sheta, corresponding author of the paper ‘A novel cerium(iii)–isatin Schiff base complex: spectrofluorometric and DFT studies and application as a kidney biomarker for ultrasensitive detection of human creatinine‘. The article has been very well received and handpicked by our reviewers and handling editors as one of our February HOT articles. Sheta was kind enough to tell us more about the work that went into this article and what he hopes to achieve in the future. You can find out more about the author and his article below and find more HOT articles in our online collection.

Meet the Author

Dr Sheta obtained his BSc and Masters degrees in applied chemistry from Helwan University, Egypt in 2004 and 2010 respectively. Following this, he joined the National Research Centre, Egypt in 2013 and obtained his PhD in inorganic-analytical chemistry from Ain Shams University, Egypt in 2015. His research interests include the preparation, characterization and application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), complexes, nanomaterials in general and specifically sensors, biosensors, medical laboratories, innovation and development of analytical techniques and methodologies for tumor markers, drugs and hormones determinations and biological activities studies as well as nano-catalysis and nano-ceramic materials. Dr. Sheta is also interested in nanostructured mesoporous materials and transition metal nanowires and particles, treatment of wastewater with conventional and advanced technologies, advanced oxidation technologies, nano-ceramic materials for advanced applications such as surface coatings and the reinforcement and conversion of CO₂ to renewable fuel. In addition, he has experience in waste treatment/recycling and environmental pollution control, removal of bacteria and algae from fresh and marine waters. He has organized and coordinated local and international events and often speaks at international conferences/symposia. He serves as an Editorial board member and reviewer of several reputed international journals.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?
This work introduced a novel and promising analytical tool for the detection and quantification of creatinine as one of the most important kidney biomarkers.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
The results showed a simple, low cost analytical tool with a fast response time, high sensitivity, high accuracy/precision, reproducibility, applicability, a lower limit of detection/quantification than in previously published reports and good recovery in the determination of creatinine in various real samples (serum/plasma).

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
• Strengthening the national income related to import many tools and devices like pregnancy strips, diabetes devices and more.
• Applying nanotechnology to synthesize smart and advanced materials that can improve the efficiency of the target device.
• Trying to produce a prototype that is more selective, sensitive, costs less and is simple and fast compared to those available on the market.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
• Preparation of a novel nanomaterial step
• Characterization step
• DFT study
• Application step

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
The characterization of the prepared compounds.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
Studying the anticancer and biological activities of the prepared compounds and the transferring of the research methodology to small device.

What is the next step? What work is planned?
Based on the point-of-care testing (POCT) systems and near patient testing devices, we will to try to transfer the research methodology to small device.

A novel cerium(iii)–isatin Schiff base complex: spectrofluorometric and DFT studies and application as a kidney biomarker for ultrasensitive detection of human creatinine
Sheta M. Sheta, Magda A. Akl, Heba E. Saad and El-Sayed R. H. El-Gharkawy
RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 5853-5863
DOI: 10.1039/C9RA10133K , Paper

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We are very pleased to introduce Juan A. Allegretto and Matías Rafti, authors of the paper ‘Synthesis and characterization of thermoresponsive ZIF-8@PNIPAm-co-MAA microgel composites with enhanced performance as an adsorption/release platform‘. Their article has been very well received and handpicked by our reviewers and handling editors as one of our HOT articles. Matías was kind enough to tell us more about the work that went into this article and what they hope to achieve in the future. You can find out more about the authors and their article below and find more HOT articles in our online collection.

Meet the Authors

Juan A. Allegretto holds a Chemistry BSc from the National University of La Plata (Universidad Nacional de La Plata – 2016), and currently conducts a PhD project related to MOFs synthesis and integration into diverse composites at the Universidad de San Martin, Argentina under the supervision of Professor Omar Azzaroni and Dr. Matías Rafti at SoftMatter Lab-INIFTA-UNLP with an scholarship granted by CONICET.

Dr Matías Rafti holds a Chemistry BSc from the National University of La Plata (Universidad Nacional de La Plata – 2003), and completed a PhD project on simulations and experiments for Heterogenous Catalysis under vacuum conditions, (2007, Prof. Vicente (Argentina, UNLP), and Prof. Imbihl (PCI, University of Hannover, Germany). He is currently a Staff Researcher at CONICET-Argentina and docent at the SoftMatter Lab-INIFTA-UNLP. Our current projects take advantage of both the synergy arising from close-collaboration with lab members with diverse expertise (e.g., x-ray scattering techniques, organic synthesis, electrochemistry, colloidal chemistry), and the wide range of available techniques allowing for a thorough physical and chemical characterization; in order to pursue the synthesis of MOF composite materials (either in colloidal suspensions or film configuration) with potential for applications in energy-related and sensing technologies.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?
We aim to develop integrated materials (aka “composites”) using building blocks which would bring different features together; to combine such components in a robust composite while maintaining functionality is a non-trivial task. Taking advantage of the expertise developed in our lab covering aspects of polymer science (softmatter) and (somehow “harder”) porous polymers (Metal Organic Frameworks or MOFs); we developed a straightforward strategy which yields MOF@Polymeric_Microgel composites featuring stimuli-responsiveness (microgel) and enhanced surface area available for adsorption (MOF).

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
The novel strategy presented is very versatile, the Zn-based ZIF-8 MOF used as proof-of-concept could be easily replaced by other MOFs, which were already employed in many interesting applications beyond adsorption. Furthermore, the MOF/Microgel composition of such highly integrated composites can be controlled, thus opening the path to new design strategies towards stimuli-responsive adsorbants.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
This work was inspired by our experience working with stimuli responsive polymeric materials and the idea of conferring such an interesting platform with additional features. We had also been working recently in the synthesis of various MOFs for diverse uses (eg. adsorption); such materials are known to suffer from hydrolysis under mild/strong conditions in aqueous environments, and such drawback hinders the otherwise immense field of applications possible. The idea behind the reported work aimed to extend the scope of uses of polymeric microgels by endowing them with high surface area; and at the same, to provide additional stability for the embedded MOF phase, thus broadening the range of conditions suitable for adsorption in aqueous environments.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
Our study is based in a meticulous selection of the composition and chemical nature of the different players, and basic chemistry notions: by introducing moieties into the microgel’s network capable to precoordinate or preconcentrate the Zn cations, we have taken advantage of the well-known coordination chemistry to direct its heterogeneous nucleation and growth of the crystalline ZIF-8 inside the microgel.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
The strategy for integration of MOF and microgel phases into the composite involves the use of a pre-coordination stage, in which metal ions were adsorbed onto exposed carboxylate moieties for subsequent MOF grow within the polymeric phase. The two main challenges we faced in the present work can be summarized as follows; i) finding the appropriate concentration of pre-coordinated ionic metal precursors for MOF growth (which can be controlled by many parameters; e.g., the amount of carboxylate moieties exposed in the microgel, or the concentration of Zn2+ ions and exposure time during the preconcentration stage); and ii) finding the appropriate conditions for controlling the swelling state of the microgel which would be compatible with MOF growth (i.e., methanol content, and ionic strength).

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
In our laboratory we continually look for opportunities to combine the know-how developed in different research areas explored by staff researchers. In particular, we are very excited about the many possibilities opened by the integration of MOFs, MOFs/Polymers and MOFs/biomolecules composites into electrochemical platforms with applications in energy storage/conversion and biosensing.

What is the next step? What work is planned?
Regarding the work related to the present article, the next evident step would be to extend the characterization of the synthetized composite and to explore its possibilities as adsorptive platform. Specifically to explore new ways to confer selectivity and to acquire further control on loading/release mechanism.

Synthesis and characterization of thermoresponsive ZIF-8@PNIPAm-co-MAA microgel composites with enhanced performance as an adsorption/release platform
Juan A. Allegretto, Juan M. Giussi, Sergio E. Moya, Omar Azzaroni and Matias Rafti
RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 2453-2461
DOI: 10.1039/C9RA09729E , Paper

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Meet the Author
We are very pleased to introduce Gerrard Marangoni, corresponding author of the paper ‘m-s-m cationic gemini and zwitterionic surfactants – a thermodynamic analysis of their mixed micelle formation‘ with Aleisha McLachlan, Kulbir Singh, Michael McAlduff, Samantha Shortall and Shawn D. Wettig. His article has been very well received and handpicked by our reviewers and handling editors as one of our HOT articles.

Gerrard was kind enough to tell us more about the work that went into this article and what he hopes to achieve in the future. You can find out more about Gerrard and his article below and find more HOT articles in our online collection.

Dr. Gerrard Marangoni is a Professor of Chemistry at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. He began his research career in colloid science as an undergraduate and graduate student; he subsequently worked with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited on the thermodynamics of radioactive compounds, and since 1992 has been at StFX University in the Department of Chemistry studying self-assembly of amphiphilic compounds. He has over 25 years of experience in surfactant and colloidal chemistry, a number of highly cited publications, and is a named author on close to 100 research papers, reports, patents and patent applications. Dr. Marangoni is a co-founder of two startup companies a member of several scientific advisory committees.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?
Mixed surfactants systems are important in a number of commercial applications – understanding how they interact on a molecular level is a first step to learning how to improve their performance.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
For gemini surfactants, researchers are keenly aware of the contribution of the spacer groups towards their self-assembly – we now also appreciate that it can play a significant role in the self-assembly of mixed surfactants system with gemini and other surfactants.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
Synergism is often discussed from a thermodynamic standpoint, but rarely are the appropriate excess thermodynamic functions measured experimentally. From our previous investigation with these same systems, we observed some key differences in the synergistic effects due to a slight change in the length of the spacer group. We were eager to see how those differences (conclusions drawn from 2D NMR NOESY and conductivity experiments) showed up in the thermodynamic parameters of micelle formation; hence the calorimetry study.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
Calorimetric titration studies require careful attention to the design of each experiment with respect to concentration(s) of titrant, the size of each injection, and the number of injections. Poor design often results in a great deal of “trial and error” in order to obtain high quality thermodynamic/binding data.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
While our group has a great deal of experience with the calculation of the various thermodynamic parameters described in this work, the number of calculations involved, combined with the multiple thermodynamic models utilized make the calculations challenging.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
How well the results from the nmr experiments and calorimetry complemented each other!

What is the next step? What work is planned?
We are currently examining how the synergism extends to other key aspects and applications of surfactants (drug delivery, solubilization).

m-s-m cationic gemini and zwitterionic surfactants – a thermodynamic analysis of their mixed micelle formation
Aleisha McLachlan, Kulbir Singh, Michael McAlduff, D. Gerrard Marangoni, Samantha Shortall and Shawn D. Wettig
RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 3221-3232
DOI: 10.1039/C9RA09432F, Paper

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