The present invention relates to the use of a particulate mineral material being functionalized with one or more reducing agents for lowering the amount of heavy metal contaminants ions from an aqueous medium. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a corresponding process for lowering the amount of heavy metal contaminants from an aqueous medium as well as to a functionalized particulate mineral material. Additionally, the present invention relates to a process for preparing a functionalized particulate mineral material and to a scavenging complex.

A separation medium for use in the separation of analytes from a feed stream containing suspended solids, processes of separation using the separation medium, and the use of the separation medium to separate analytes from a feed stream containing suspended solids. The separation medium is provided as a hydrogel having a structure whose surfaces are defined by a triply periodic minimal surface, the hydrogel comprising at least one ligand that binds at least one target analyte.

A method of modifying a chemical interaction between a functional group of an immobilized amine in a solid sorbent composition and a compound that chemically interacts with the functional group to reduce the heat required to desorb the compound from the solid sorbent. A method of inhibiting degradation of an immobilized amine in an immobilized amine solid sorbent. Compositions and methods of use of a low-cost regenerable immobilized amine solid sorbent resistant to degradation.

The present invention relates to a method to improve chromatography beads. More closely, the invention relates to a novel method for production of dextran-containing porous media and chromatography media produced with this method. In the method, the chromatography media is subjected to dextranase-treatment leading to improved pressure-flow properties of the media.

Disclosed herein are extraction chromatographic supports comprising a porous support, an inert filler, and metal ion binding extractant that may be used for chromatographic separation of metal ions. Also disclosed herein are methods for preparing and using the extraction chromatographic supports.

A dual ligand sol-gel sorbent and method of manufacture is provided herein. The dual ligand sol-gel sorbent provides superior enrichment effects through simultaneous exploitation of superhydrophobicity of one of the ligands and the ability of the other ligand to undergo - interaction with hydrophobic aromatic analytes. Sorbent performance is enhanced both in terms of analyte enrichment and sorbent stability, such as pH stability and solvent stability.

A method for producing a modified sawdust sorbent. The method involves sulfonating sawdust with sulfuric acid and oxidizing the sulfonated sawdust with hydrogen peroxide. The method yields a modified sawdust sorbent containing sulfonated and oxidized cellulose. The modified sawdust sorbent has a higher surface area, higher organic dye adsorption capacity, and more rapid organic dye adsorption rate than unmodified sawdust. Also disclosed is a method of using the modified sawdust sorbent for organic dye removal from water.

This invention discloses an approach is improve the strength and reproducibility of the signal generated in FTAs using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) through the design of an approach to generate the plasmonically-enhanced signal for SERS, surface-enhanced infrared (SEIRA), and other enhanced spectroscopies. The design incorporates: (1) a particle-particle coupling strategy that is triggered by the selective capture of an analyte to a particle that has been immobilized on a membrane and has been modified to act as a capture substrate; (2) the selective tagging of the captured analyte by a nanoparticle also designed to generate an amplified plasmonic signal upon tagging; and (3) the incorporation of an internal nanoparticle standard to account for fluctuations in flow rates and flow paths. Collectively, these developments improve the accuracy and precision of the analysis as well as the SPME analysis accurately, improving the ease-of-use for a number of different SPME-based measurements, including, for example, those focused on disease markers using immunoassays and a range of other assay formats.

A method for producing a modified sawdust sorbent. The method involves sulfonating sawdust with sulfuric acid and oxidizing the sulfonated sawdust with hydrogen peroxide. The method yields a modified sawdust sorbent containing sulfonated and oxidized cellulose. The modified sawdust sorbent has a higher surface area, higher organic dye adsorption capacity, and more rapid organic dye adsorption rate than unmodified sawdust. Also disclosed is a method of using the modified sawdust sorbent for organic dye removal from water.

The invention relates to materials, methods and devices useful for sampling biological molecules, including biomarkers and/or metabolites. In particular, the invention relates to surface functionalised xerogels and surface functionalised poly(dimethyl) siloxane (PDMS), devices comprising those materials, and methods of using the materials and devices for sampling, analysing or detecting biological molecules.