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Hypophosphorous acid (H3PO2) is an important chemical product with wide applications in pharmaceuticals and electroless plating. In this study, bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) was used to produce H3PO2from sodium hypophosphite salt (NaH2PO2) to replace the traditional preparation methods. The BMED process was optimized in terms of current density, NaH2PO2salt concentration, and initial NaOH concentration of the base solution. The results indicated that low Na+leakage occurred at lower salt concentrations. Under the optimum conditions, such a BMED system obtained a high concentration of H3PO2, a low Na+content, and a low energy consumption, equaling to 1.03 mol/L, 670 ppm, and 1.18 kW h/kg, respectively. To minimize the amount of phosphorous acid (H3PO3) generated from H3PO2oxidation during the BMED process, a nitrogen aeration operation was applied in both the acid and salt chambers, decreasing the HPO32–content to 251 ppm, which was 44.1% lower than that without a dissolved oxygen content control strategy. The newly produced H3PO3during the BMED process was reduced by 96.5%. The obtained results indicated that the BMED process has great potential for application in the production of high-quality H3PO2from NaH2PO2in industry.

We present a case of a 43-year-old man with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein tumour thrombus. Initially, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) was performed. Although alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels decreased, circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) levels showed an upward trend, and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that tumours in the portal vein had increased. Based on ctDNA profiling, apatinib and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (anti-PD-1) antibodies and were sequentially administered. Approximately three months later, intrahepatic tumours had significantly diminished and AFP and ctDNA levels had reduced. The response was sustained at the 23-month follow-up and the patient was in good health. Combination treatment of TACE, apatinib and anti-PD-1 antibodies was effective, and profiling of ctDNA fragmentation may be beneficial in the therapeutic management of patients with HCC.