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Heavy metal ions are among the most dangerous contaminants, which can cause serious health problems. In this work, ion-exchange resin beads were used as supports for magnetite (Fe3O4) synthesis to produce heavy metal adsorbents which can be easily separated by magnetic field. The first step of the magnetite preparation was the replacement of hydrogen ions with Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions on the sulfonic acid groups of the resin. In the second step, magnetite particle formation was induced by coprecipitating the iron ions with sodium hydroxide. The regeneration of the ion-exchange resin was also carried out by using sodium hydroxide. SEM images verified that relatively large magnetite crystal particles (diameter = 100–150 nm) were created. The ion-exchange effect of the prepared magnetic adsorbent was also confirmed by applying Cu2+, Ni2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions in adsorption experiments.

The identification of patients with different brain tumors is solely built on imaging diagnostics, indicating the need for novel methods to facilitate disease recognition. Glycosylation is a chemical modification of proteins, reportedly altered in several inflammatory and malignant diseases, providing a potential alternative route for disease detection. In this paper, we report the quantitative analysis of serum N-glycosylation of patients diagnosed with primary and metastatic brain tumors. PNGase-F-digested and procainamide-labeled serum glycans were purified by magnetic nanoparticles, followed by quantitative liquid chromatographic analysis. The glycan structures were identified by the combination of single quad mass spectrometric detection and exoglycosidase digestions. Linear discriminant analysis provided a clear separation of different disease groups and healthy controls based on their N-glycome pattern. Altered distribution of biantennary neutral, sialylated but nonfucosylated, and sialylated–fucosylated structures were found to be the most significant changes. Our results demonstrate that serum glycosylation monitoring could improve the detection of malignancy.

Carbonized ion exchange resin beads were prepared as catalyst for gas phase hydrogenation processes. Amberlite IR 120 polystyrene based sulfonated ion exchange beads were carbonized at 900 °C. The process of carbonization was monitored by FTIR combined thermogravimetric analysis. During the carbonization formed sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and organic compounds. The carbon pearls were used as catalyst support for Pd nanoparticles. The catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The diameters of the palladium nanoparticles on the catalyst surface were between 15 and 50 nm, but bigger aggregates were also detected. The catalyst was tested during the gas phased heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of 1-butene. The hydrogenation process was followed by FTIR measurements, 93% conversion was reached after 10 min.