Synthesis of high payload nanohydrogels for the ecapsulation of hydrophilic molecules via inverse miniemulsion polymerization: caffeine as a case study

Abstract

The association of an active principle with a nanocarrier is known to improve its stability and protect it from external factors. Nevertheless, loading of nanoparticles with highly hydrophilic substances like caffeine remains a tricky issue. In the present study, inverse miniemulsion systems were successfully coupled to UV radiation to synthesize polymeric nanohydrogels for drug delivery. The proper choice of the continuous and dispersed phase chemical composition led to the entrapment of active principle into the miniemulsion droplets. Our confinement-based strategy enabled unprecedented caffeine encapsulation efficiency inside 100-nm particles. Dimensional, thermal, and spectroscopic characterizations were carried out to investigate both unloaded and loaded nanohydrogels. Furthermore, in vitro release studies evaluated caffeine release kinetics from nanohydrogels by means of dialysis tests. It was demonstrated that controlled and sustained release occurred within the first 50?hours. Experimental data were found to fit the Higuchi model suggesting that the active principle release is diffusion controlled.     

Microwave preparation and properties of O-crosslinked maleic acyl chitosan adsorbent for Pb2+ and Cu2+

A novel chitosan-based adsorbent (CCTM) was prepared by the reaction of epichlorohydrin O-crosslinked chitosan with maleic anhydride under microwave irradiation. The chemical structure of this polymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. The effects of various variables such as degree of substitution, adsorption time, initial metal ion concentration, solution pH, and temperature, on the adsorption of Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ by CCTM were investigated. The results demonstrate that the microwave irradiation can remarkably enhance the reaction. CCTM has higher adsorption capacity than chitosan. The maximum adsorption capacities for Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺, with initial concentrations of 0.02 mol L⁻¹ at pH 5, are 246.3 and 132.5 mg g⁻¹, respectively. The adsorbent can be recycled. These results have important implications for the design of effective chitosan-based adsorbents in the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewaters. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Mechanism of anomalous recovery in advanced SiGe bipolar transistors after low dose rate irradiation for very high total doses

The possible physical mechanism of the anomalous recovery effect in SiGe bipolar transistors is described. The qualitative analysis of saturated oxide trapped charge and interface trap densities at very high total doses as a function of dose rate affords an explain of decreasing excess base current and increasing current gain during further low dose rate irradiation.     

滚动压印装置研制与压印填充模拟

紫外滚动压印因其可以在室温下、普通大气环境中高效大面积地进行微结构制作而备受瞩目.利用自行研制的紫外滚动压印装置,实现了微结构的快速复制.实验中发现当压印速度达到某一特定值时,会不可避免地产生气泡缺陷.采用流体软件Fluent对滚动压印充填过程进行分析,来研究气泡缺陷的产生机理.结果表明,压印速度过高导致空气被堵在图形空腔内,最终形成气泡缺陷.同时,低黏度的胶液和小的接触角更利于模型填充.此研究对于获得优化的滚动压印工艺具有一定的意义.     

A multifunctional ribonuclease A-conjugated carbon dot cluster nanosystem for synchronous cancer imaging and therapy

Carbon dots exhibit great potential in applications such as molecular imaging and in vivo molecular tracking. However, how to enhance fluorescence intensity of carbon dots has become a great challenge. Herein, we report for the first time a new strategy to synthesize fluorescent carbon dots (C-dots) with high quantum yields by using ribonuclease A (RNase A) as a biomolecular templating agent under microwave irradiation. The synthesized RNase A-conjugated carbon dots (RNase A@C-dots) exhibited quantum yields of 24.20%. The fluorescent color of the RNase A@C-dots can easily be adjusted by varying the microwave reaction time and microwave power. Moreover, the emission wavelength and intensity of RNase A@C-dots displayed a marked excitation wavelength-dependent character. As the excitation wavelength alters from 300 to 500 nm, the photoluminescence (PL) peak exhibits gradually redshifts from 450 to 550 nm, and the intensity reaches its maximum at an excitation wavelength of 380 nm. Its Stokes shift is about 80 nm. Notably, the PL intensity is gradually decreasing as the pH increases, almost linearly dependent, and it reaches the maximum at a pH = 2 condition; the emission peaks also show clearly a redshift, which may be caused by the high activity and perfective dispersion of RNase A in a lower pH solution. In high pH solution, RNase A tends to form RNase A warped carbon dot nanoclusters. Cell imaging confirmed that the RNase A@C-dots could enter into the cytoplasm through cell endocytosis. 3D confocal imaging and transmission electron microscopy observation confirmed partial RNase A@C-dots located inside the nucleus. MTT and real-time cell electronic sensing (RT-CES) analysis showed that the RNase A@C-dots could effectively inhibit the growth of MGC-803 cells. Intra-tumor injection test of RNase A@C-dots showed that RNase A@C-dots could be used for imaging in vivo gastric cancer cells. In conclusion, the as-prepared RNase A@C-dots are suitable for simultaneous therapy and in vivo fluorescence imaging of nude mice loaded with gastric cancer or other tumors.     

Irradiation of Escherichia Coli in Reactor Core

¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li is a promising reaction for radiation therapy which can be selectively used for tumor cell killing sparing surrounding normal tissue. (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy: BNCT)

Despite the apparent success in application, basic studies to evaluate the biological effects of the reaction are in sparsity in terms of relative biological effectiveness (RBE) measurements and of adverse effects of the reaction such as mutagenesis. While the efficiency of the reaction is largely dependent on the selectiveness or localization of ¹⁰B compounds in tumor tissues, the lethal and mutagenic (or carcinogenic) effect of the reaction on normal cells must be carefully evaluated.

Towards this end developed here is a new experimental approach using as a model system Escherichia Coli cells which allows us to examine specific effects of the boron- neutron capture reaction in terms of lethality and mutagenecity as an example.

Isotropic irradiation of biological system in the core of a small research reactor is thought tobe an advantage for this experiment in that it simulates actual medical irradiations though it requires data analysis for individual radiation effects.     

Influence of a long‐side‐chain‐containing reactive diluent on the structure and mechanical properties of UV‐cured films

The dimethacrylate reactive diluent (HEMA‐DDSA), a long‐side‐chain‐containing reactive diluent, was prepared by reacting 2‐dodecen‐1‐ylsuccinic anhydride with two equivalents of hydroxyethyl methacrylate. Its structure was characterized by IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. This new diluent was added into the formulation of UV‐curable epoxy acrylate networks. Results show that the formulation with the addition of HEMA‐DDSA has massively reduced viscosity and shows several attractive properties of epoxy acrylate oligomers. The mechanical resistance of the films is dramatically enhanced with the incorporation of long alkyl groups derived from HEMA‐DDSA, the plastic deformation zone expands, thus decreasing the inner stress of the polymer structure. Moreover, the cured coatings have a higher glass transition temperature as the percentage of HEMA‐DDSA is increased up to 5 wt%. Due to the excellent integrated performance of the polymeric films, HEMA‐DDSA proved to be an effective reactive diluent, which is of potential interest for applications in high performance materials. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Growth and characterization of 4-methyl benzene sulfonamide single crystals

Single crystals of 4-methyl benzene sulfonamide (4MBS) were successfully grown from aqueous solution by low temperature solution growth technique. The grown crystal was characterized by single crystal XRD and powder XRD methods to obtain the lattice parameters and the diffraction planes of the crystal. UV–vis–NIR absorption spectrum was used to measure the range of optical transmittance and optical band gap energy. The optical transmission range was measured as 250–1200 nm. FTIR spectral studies were carried out to identify the presence of functional groups in the grown crystal. The thermal behavior of the crystal was investigated from thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study. The absence of SHG was noticed by Kurtz and Perry powder technique. The third order NLO behavior of the material was confirmed by measuring the nonlinear optical properties using Z-scan technique and it was found that the crystal is capable of exhibiting saturation absorption and self-defocusing performance.