The extraction of gold from ores and electronic waste is an important topic worldwide, as this precious metal has immense value in a variety of fields. However, serious environmental pollution and high energy consumption due to the use of toxic oxidation reagents and harsh reaction conditions is a well-known problem in the gold industry. Herein, we report a new chemical method based on the combined use of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and pyridine (Py), which has a greatly decreased environmental impact and reagent cost, as well as mild reaction requirements. This method can directly leach Au from gold ore and electronic waste to form Au in water. The process is achieved in a yield of approximately 90 % at room temperature and a nearly neutral pH. The minimum dose of NBS/Py is as low as 10 mm, which exhibits low toxicity towards mammalian cells and animals as well as aquatic creatures. The high leaching selectivity of Au over other metals during gold leaching is demonstrated, showing that this method has great potential for practical industrial application towards the sustainable refining of gold from ores and electronic waste.

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The passivation of nonspecific protein adsorption to paper is a major barrier to the use of paper as a platform for microfluidic bioassays. Herein we describe a simple, scalable protocol based on adsorption and cross-linking of poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (POEGMA) derivatives that reduces nonspecific adsorption of a range of proteins to filter paper by at least 1 order of magnitude without significantly changing the fiber morphology or paper macroporosity. A lateral-flow test strip coated with POEGMA facilitates effective protein transport while also confining the colorimetric reporting signal for easier detection, giving improved performance relative to bovine serum albumin (BSA)-blocked paper. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays based on POEGMA-coated paper also achieve lower blank values, higher sensitivities, and lower detection limits relative to ones based on paper blocked with BSA or skim milk. We anticipate that POEGMA-coated paper can function as a platform for the design of portable, disposable, and low-cost paper-based biosensors.

Improving the wettability of and reducing the protein adsorption to contact lenses may be beneficial for improving wearer comfort. Herein, we describe a simple "click" chemistry approach to surface functionalize poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA)-based contact lenses with hyaluronic acid (HA), a carbohydrate naturally contributing to the wettability of the native tear film. A two-step preparation technique consisting of laccase/TEMPO-mediated oxidation followed by covalent grafting of hydrazide-functionalized HA via simple immersion resulted in a model lens surface that is significantly more wettable, more water retentive, and less protein binding than unmodified pHEMA while maintaining the favorable transparency, refractive, and mechanical properties of a native lens. The dipping/coating method we developed to covalently tether the HA wetting agent is simple, readily scalable, and a highly efficient route for contact lens modification.

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