17^th International Conference on Industrial Chemistry and Water Treatment May 21-22, 2018 New York, USA

Biography:

He has completed his PhD at the age of 28 years from Hokkaido University, Japan and postdoctoral fellows from United Kingdom and Sweden. After that he became assistant professor and associated Professors at Hokkaido University, and Professor of Muroran Institute of Technology, Japan. Furthermore he also became a senior research director at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) at Tsukuba, Japan, and Guest Professor at Paris University in France

Abstract:

The highly stereoregular preparation of mono-substituted polyacetylenes (SPA)s was performed using an [Rh(norbornadiene)Cl]₂-triethylamine catalyst to give the π-conjugated helical polymers. Because the SPAs are expected as new advanced materials due to semiconductivity, NLO properties, external stimulus responsibility, enantioselectivity, and oxygen permeability. These properties are strongly related to the geometrical structure, e.g., cis or trans forms and higher-order structure, e.g., p stacking along with the helical main-chain in the solid phase. Therefore, we have investigated whether the geometrical and helical structures of the SPAs can be controlled through molecular design and/or external stimuli. The p-n-hexyloxyphenylacetylene (pPA) monomer was stereoregularly polymerized using the Rh catalyst at 25 °C. When ethanol and n-hexane were used as the polymerization solvents, a yellow P(Y), and its red P(R) were obtained, respectively. The diffuse reflective UV-vis spectra of these polymers showed l_max at 445 and 575 nm, respectively. The WAXS patterns of P(Y) and P(R) exhibited hexagonal columnar structures which were attributed to the stretched and contracted helices, respectively. Additionally, P(Y) was irreversibly transformed into a reddish-black P(YâžžB), whose columnar diameter was identical to that of P(R) when heated at 80 °C for 1 h. These findings suggest a thermally irreversible rearrangement from a thermally unstable P(Y) with a stretched helix to a stable P(YâžžB) with a contracted helix. In the case of aliphatic polyacetylene ester the mutual helical oscillation between the contacted and stretched helices was found in the solution¹

Biography:

Dr Junwang Tang is the Director of UCL Materials Hub, Professor of Chemistry and Materials Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and a Fellow of the RSC. He received his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 2001. After that, he took a JSPS fellow in Japan and senior researcher in Imperial College London. Later, he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London to take a permanent faculty position.

He currently leads a research team including postdoctoral researchers, academic visitors and research students with financial support from UK EPSRC, Leverhulme, Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, Newton Fund, EU PF7, Qatar and so on. His research interests encompass structure-controlled nanomaterials synthesis by a flow system powered by microwave irradiation, solar H₂ synthesis from water, CO₂ conversion to a renewable fuel, methane conversion, ammonia synthesis and photocatalytic environmental purification. Such studies are undertaken in parallel with the mechanistic understanding and device optimisation to address the renewable energy supply and environmental purification. His research has led to ~110 journal papers with >7000 citations, 11 patents and many invited lectures in the international conference. He is  the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Advanced Chemical Engineering, an Associate Editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, the guest Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Photoenergy, 2012 and Associate Editor of Chin J. Catalysis apart from sitting on the editorial board of other international journals. 

Abstract:

Catalytic decontamination of water by solar energy has attracted substantial interest over the past decades. However to develop an efficient photocatalyst for such environmental purification, in particular water treatment still remains a big challenge, involving Material Science, Chemistry, Engineering and Physics. In particular there is not a cost effective way to deal with large volume of water contaminated by small amount of organic substance or extreme large amount of contaminated water in suburban region (e.g. oil spill in Mexico Gulf, in China Bohai Sea).

 

Inorganic photocatalysis using solar energy to mineralize organic contaminants in principal is the potentially best solution to these issues and works in the cost effective way. Recently we preliminarily illustrated the key factors dominating the efficiency of process driven by light irradiation.¹ Following that, water treatment was carried out in my group which is a challenging topic due to its complexity. In this talk, the mechanism of the chemical process, involving charge transfer and reaction with oxygen, will be addressed and structured/junction material development will be presented, resulting into a few times higher activity for textile water treatment^2,3  and simulated river water treatment^4,5 compared with the benchmark photocatalyst P25. Furthermore, a new and facile method to synthesize these active photocatalysts will be discussed

Biography:

Jun-ichi Kadokawa received his Ph.D. in 1992. He then joined Yamagata University as a Research Associate. From 1996 to 1997, he worked as a visiting scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Germany. In 1999, he became an Associate Professor at Yamagata University and moved to Tohoku University in 2002. He was appointed as a Professor of Kagoshima University in 2004. His research interests focus on polysaccharide materials. He received the Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science (1997) and the Cellulose Society of Japan Award (2009). He has published more than 200 papers in academic journals

Abstract:

Natural polysaccharides such as cellulose, starch, and chitin are widely distributed in nature and thus considered as the very important biomass resources. They can also be expected as functional materials, which are applicable in biomedical, tissue engineering, and environmentally benign fields. Therefore, the efficient methods for synthesis of functional polysaccharides have attracted much attention to provide new materials employed in such application fields. Enzymatic approaches have increasingly been important to precisely synthesize functional polysaccharide materials. Phosphorylase is one of the enzymes, which have been practically employed as catalysts for the synthesis of polysaccharides with well-defined structures. This enzyme catalyzes enzymatic polymerization of a-d-glucose 1-phosphate (Glc-1-P) as a monomer initiated from the nonreducing end of maltooligosaccharide primer to produce a(1g4)-glucan, that is amylose (Figure 1). The author has reported precision synthesis of functional polysaccharide materials by phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic reactions.^1,2

By means of the property of spontaneously double helix formation from amyloses, for example, it was reported that the phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization using the immobilized primers forms network structures composed of the double helix cross-linking points.³ In most cases, accordingly, the enzymatic polymerization solutions have turned into hydrogels with high water contents. As an example, the phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization using the immobilized primers on chitin nanofibers was investigated to produce amylose-grafted chitin nanofiber hydrogels.⁴

On the other hand, the author has also reported that by means of the phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization using analog substrates as monomers, well-defined polysaccharides with functional groups are efficiently obtained.⁵ For example, phosphorylase isolated from thermophilic bacteria, Aquifex aerolicus VF5, catalyzed the enzymatic polymerization of a-d-glucosamine 1-phosphate (GlcN-1-P) as a monomer from maltotriose primer. The enzymatic reaction was accelerated in ammonia buffer containing Mg²⁺ ion, owing to the precipitation of inorganic phosphate, giving the high molecular weight aminopolysaccharide, which corresponded to chitosan stereoisomer.

 

 

Biography:

Toshiki Aoki received his Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate Degree (1987) in Department of Applied Chemistry at Nagoya University, Japan. He joined Fluorine Chemistry Division at Government Industrial Research Institute, Nagoya in 1987–1989. He moved to Department of Applied Chemistry at Niigata University in 1989 and became a Full Professor (2000). He worked as a visiting scientist at University of Southern California in 1998–1999. His research interest covers synthesis of functional polymers, including synthesis of new chiral polymers for permselective membranes. His recent interest is in synthesis and application of two-dimentional polymers using HSSP and SCAT reactions.

 

Abstract:

We have already reported a petit top-down preparation method for self-supporting su-pramolecular polymeric membranes¹⁾ by a novel highly selective photocyclicaromatization (SCAT), althoguh supramolecular polymeric materials are usually prepared by bottom-up methods.  The SCAT reaction converted π-conjugated polymers from phenylacetylene having two hydroxyl groups to exclusively yield a 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene derivative whose structures were confirmed by H-NMR, GPC, and TOF-MS. The SCAT reaction had many unique characteristics, such as unusual selectivities, as follows. 1) a quantitative reaction: it gave only the corresponding cyclic trimer, i.e., a 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene derivative. 2) an intramolecular reaction, 3) a stereospecific and template reaction, 4) a photoreaction, 5) a solid state reaction. In addition, 6) the resulting cyclic trimers had the ability to form a self-supporting membrane, in spite of their low molecular weights.

Since SCAT has such high selectivities and is useful for the preparation of a self-supporting supramolecular polymer membrane, many kinds of applications can be expected. In this lecture, some applications of the unique reaction products will be presented based on the advantages above mentioned. For example, 1) analysis of the microstructures of the starting polymers, 2) examination of gas permeation through the supramolecular polymers, 3) synthesis of new types of multistranded polymers, and 4) exfoliation of two dimensional network polymers.

 

Biography:

Dr. Ram Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Pittsburg State Univerity. His research focuses on green energy production and storage using conducting polymers, composites, nanomaterials and utilizing bio-based polymers for commercial applications. Dr. Gupta published over 160 peer-reviewed journal articles, made over 150 national/international/regional presentations, chaired many sessions at national/international meetings, and received over 1 million dollars for research and educational activities from external agencies NSF, DoE. He is serving as Associate Editor and editorial board member for various journals. Dr. Gupta is also serving as Keynote Speaker and Organizing Committee Member for Industrial Chemistry International conference.

 

Abstract:

Hydrogen production from water electrolysis is one of the greenest ways to generate fuel for commercial applications. Commercial application of water electrolysis requires low cost, high performance and stable electrocatalysts which can operate at low overpotential. The current state-of-the-art noble metal-based electrocatalysts such as platinum are the most efficient electrocatalysts for water electrolysis, however, their high cost and limited availability have curtailed their extensive use as electrocatalysts. In this research, we have synthesized a catalyst using a cost-effective method for water electrolysis. The 2-dimensional catalyst was synthesized using earth abounding elements and its electrocatalytic activities were improved by one step facile chemical treatment. Core-shell nanostructured 2-dimensional molybdenum sulfide was synthesized using chemical vapor deposition method and was treated with hydrazine to improve its catalytic activities. Hydrazine treated catalyst showed significant improvement in the electrocatalytic performance. They showed about 100 mV improvement in overpotential after exposure to dilute hydrazine at room temperature with a significant change in Tafel slope. Mechanism of such improvement in the catalytic properties will be discussed in detail. Our studies suggest that simple chemical treatment process can be adopted to improve catalytic properties of 2-dimentional material which was derived from earth abundant elements for industrial production of hydrogen as a fuel.

 

Biography:

Victus Bobonkey Samlafo earned his B.Sc (Chemistry) and Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast- Ghana in 1996. He received M.Sc (Analytical Chemistry) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in 2002.  B.V Samlafo later had a PhD in Nuclear and Radiochemistry in 2011 from the University of Ghana, Legon (Accra).  Dr B.V Samlafo has been teaching at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) since 2004 to date. He is a Senior Lecturer and Acting Head of Integrated Science Education Department. Dr B.V Samlafo is currently a member of the Academic   Board of UEW, a member of the Science Faculty Board and past departmental examinations officer for 20015/2016 academic year. Dr B.V Samlafo is currently a reviewer for the following Journals West Africa Journal of Ecology, Journal of Global Ecology and Environment and International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. He attended several conferences and workshops and had eighteen referred articles in both international and local journals. He also contributed to a lot of study materials and books.

Abstract:

This paper examined the speciation of selenium(IV) (selenite) and selenium(VI) (selenate) levels in human whole blood samples from Tarkwa and its environs, a mining-impacted area in Ghana, using hydride generation atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique.

Selenium (IV) in the experimental subjects ranged from 0.08±0.01 µg/mL to 0.50±0.02µg/mL with a mean of 0.29 µg/mL, while the control  ranged from 0.02±0.1 µg/mL to 0.21 ±0.05 µg/mL, with a mean of 0.07 µg/mL. Significant differences existed between the levels of selenium (IV) concentrations in experimental and control subjects (p=0.0001 <0.05). The selenium (VI) in experimental subjects ranged from 2.97±0.52 µg/mL to 4.39±0.42 µg/mL ,with a mean of 3.63 µg/mL, while the control ranged from 0.60 µg/mL to 1.0 µg/mL, with a mean of 0.89 µg/mL. Significant differences existed between the levels of selenium (VI) in experimental and the control subjects (p=5.98 x10^-14<0.05). The measurement precision determined by relative standard deviation was within ±5%. The accuracy of the determination was evaluated by analysing certified standard human hair reference material GBW 09101. The observed values were within ±6% of the certified values.

 

Biography:

Takashi Yoshida received his Ph. D. in 1983 at the Graduate School of Engineering, Meiji University (Professor Shojiro Saito). Then, he worked at Nippon Dental University as a research associate (1983-1985) and moved to University of Tokyo as a research associate during 1985-1993 (Professor Toshiyuki Uryu). During 1988-1989, he had worked at York University (Canada) as a postdoctoral researcher. He became an associate professor at the Department of Polymer Science, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University (1993-2001). Since 2001 he is a professor at the Department of Bio and Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology. His research interests are focus on the study of bio macromolecules and environmental science.

 

Abstract:

We have investigated the synthesis and biological activities of sulfated polysaccharides obtained by sulfation of both synthetic and naturally occurring polysaccharides. Ring-opening polymerization of anhydrosugar monomers is a superior method to afford stereoregular polysaccharides with high molecular weights and define structures. Synthetic polysaccharides become good biomaterials for investigation of the relationship between the structure and biological activity. After sulfation, we found that sulfated polysaccharides had potent anti-HIV activity measured by 50% effective concentration (EC₅₀) as low as 1 mg/mL. In addition, we found that curdlan sulfate, which was prepared by sulfation of the naturally occurring polysaccharide curdlan with a linear 1, 3-b-linked glucopyranosidic structure, also completely inhibited the infection of MT-4 cells by HIV at concentrations as low as 3.3 mg/ml. In general, sulfated polysaccharides like heparin have high blood anticoagulant activity, making them unsuitable for AIDS treatment. However, curdlan sulfate has low blood anticoagulant activity (10 unit/mg) and low cytotoxicity.

       The structure of polysaccharides was analyzed by high resolution NMR measurements and antiviral mechanisms were elucidated by SPR, DLS, and zeta potential with poly-L-lysine as a model peptide of HIV surface protein. The sulfated synthetic and natural polysaccharides were found to have strong interactions with poly-L-lysine, suggesting that the anti-HIV activity was hypothetically due to the interaction of the negatively charged sulfated groups with the positively charged surface proteins of HIV. The antiviral activity of other viruses is also presented.

 

Biography:

Abstract:

In the present study, we report the effect of organic additives and temperature on the micellization of cationic Gemini surfactants Bis- Dodecyl dimethyl ethylene diamine (12-2-12). The micellization behavior of Gemini surfactants were studied at different temperatures at 30^oC and 50^oC in different concentrations of organic additives (Phenyl Propiolic acid) in aqueous solutions. The micellar environment of aqueous solution of Gemini-organic additives transform in to spherical to vesicle micelles was investigated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Rheology, Scattering, infrared, Microscopic, and also by dynamic light scattering. Changes in the structural parameters of the micelles with addition of additives were inferred from SANS measurements. The intensity of scattered neutrons at the low q region was found to increase with increasing PPA concentration. This suggests an increase in size of the micelles and/or decrease of intermicellar interactions with increasing salt concentration. Analysis of the SANS data using prolate ellipsoidal structure and Yukawa form of interaction potential between micelles indicates that addition of additives leads to a decrease in the surface charge of the ellipsoidal micelles and consequently an increase in their length. The N_agg were confirmed by the SANS and Fluorescence measurement

Biography:

Dr. Marcelina B. Lirazan obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of the Philippines. She did her dissertation at the University of Utah (USA) under the Overseas Fellowship Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the Philippines. She is currently the chairperson in her department. She has published 11 papers in reputed journals.

Mr. John Louis Villanueva was Dr. Lirazan’s thesis advisee. He graduated with the degree of B.S. Biochemistry at the University of the Philippines Manila, and is currently pursuing Medicine in the same university.

 

Abstract:

A simple, convenient and sensitive method for the detection of the presence of heavy metals in seawater was developed using an enzyme preparation that catalyzes NADP and MTT reduction yielding a colorimetric response, measured using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. This method which was based upon the protocol provided by Sigma Aldrich and Zhu et al (2011) used crude extract of the Tripneustes gratilla eggs as source of enzymes such as glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the enzyme responsible for the reduction of NADP. The pH was optimized to ensure maximum NADP-reducing activity and the applicability of the method to seawater was determined. It was found that the NADP-reducing activity increased up until 50mM of NaCl indicating that enzymes such as G6PD in the sea urchin are tolerant to certain concentrations of NaCl.

 

The effect of heavy metals was determined and the potency of heavy metals as inhibitors of NADP-reducing activity was found as follows: Hg⁺² > Zn⁺² > Pb^+2..  The qualitative assessment of sea water quality was also performed using the developed method. Of the five sites selected in Manila Bay, three sites showed percent inhibition less than 10% that is not significantly different from the control (artificial seawater). Two sites were found to exceed 10% inhibition, significantly different from the control (p<0.05).  This newly developed method may also be used for the detection of pesticides and toxic industrial effluents that would inhibit G6PD, thus, offers means of detecting marine pollution in general.