Caihua Ni

Hydrophobic modification of sodium alginate and its application in drug controlled release.

Sodium alginate was hydrophobically modified by coupling of polybutyl methacrylate onto the alginate. The polybutyl methacrylate was previously prepared through polymerization of butyl methacrylate in the presence of 2-amino-ethanethiol as a chain transfer agent. The structure of the product was characterized by Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) and thermogravimetry. The result of fluorescence analysis showed that the hydrophobicity of the modified alginate was obviously increased. The modified alginate conjugate was used for immobilization of bovine serum albumin in the presence of calcium chloride. In addition, the release behavior of the drug-loaded alginate in deionized water and Tris–HCl buffer solution (pH 7.2) was investigated. It was found that the modified sodium alginate possessed prolonged release behavior compared to unmodified sodium alginate, and it had potential application in controlled release as a drug carrier.

Syntheses of silsesquioxane (POSS)-based inorganic/organic hybrid and the application in reinforcement for an epoxy resin

A new inorganic/organic hybrid material containing silsesquioxane was prepared by the reaction of caged octa (aminopropyl silsesquioxane) (POSS-NH(2)) with n-butyl glycidyl ether (nBGE) and 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDGE). The copolymers of POSS, nBGE, and BDGE could be obtained with varied feed ratio of POSS-NH(2), nBGE, and BDGE in the preparation. The hybrid material was added into an epoxy resin (E51) for enhancing the toughening and thermal properties of the epoxy resin. The results showed that the toughening and the thermal properties of the cured epoxy resin were greatly improved by the addition of the hybrid. The enhancement was ascribed to nano-scale effect of the POSS structure and the formation of anchor structure in the cured network. The investigation of kinetics for the curing process of the hybrid-modified epoxy resin revealed that two kinds of curing reactions occurred in different temperature ranges. They were attributed to the reactions between amino groups of the curing agent with epoxy groups of E51 and with residue epoxy groups in the hybrid. The reacting activation energies were calculated based on Kissingers and Flynn-Wall-Ozawas methods, respectively.

Preparation and pH controlled release of polyelectrolyte complex of poly(L-malic acid-co-D,L-lactic acid) and chitosan.

The copolymer of poly(L-malic acid-co-D,L-lactic acid) (PML) was synthesized through a direct polycondensation of L-malic acid (MA) and D,L-lactic acid (LA). Then, a new polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based on the complexation between the copolymer (PML) and chitosan (CS) was prepared. The PEC formed stable nano particles in aqueous solutions with pH 3-5, and the nano particles had the diameters in a range of 316-590 nm (varied with the components of PML and CS). Doxorubicin (DOX) as a model drug was loaded on the nano particles through the physical adsorption and complexation, and part of DOX formed the secondary particles by self-aggregation. The high drug loading efficiency (16.5%) and the sustained release patterns in acidic media were observed, and the release accelerated in alkaline solutions. The nano particles could be potentially applied as pH sensitive drug vehicles for controlled release.

Zwitterionic pH/redox nanoparticles based on dextran as drug carriers for enhancing tumor intercellular uptake of doxorubicin

Zwitterionic nanoparticles have excellent serum stability. In this study, pH/redox responsive polymer was synthesized through a modification of dextran using succinic acid, followed by crosslinking with cystamine. The polymer could self-assemble into stable nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous solution. The NPs carried certain amount of free carboxyl and amino groups on the surface, which endowed the NPs excellent anti-protein adsorption ability. The surface charge was negative at pH7.4 and was converted to positive at pH5.0. It was revealed that the NPs showed little non-specific protein adsorption and had excellent serum stability, and the NPs could be internalized in Hela cells rapidly. This result was ascribed to the charge reversible feature of the NPs. Doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded in the NPs for release studies in vitro. The DOX-loaded NPs exhibited obvious pH and reduction sensitivities in response to the environment in tumor cells due to the introduction of carboxyl groups, amino groups and disulfide bonds in the NPs. The NPs were biocompatible, biodegradable, and could be potentially applied as anticancer drug carriers for enhancement of tumor intercellular uptake of doxorubicin.

Preparation of polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles of chitosan and poly(2-acry1amido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid) for doxorubicin release

A new kind of polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based on cationic chitosan (CS) and anionic poly(2-acry1amido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid) (PAMPS) was prepared using a polymer-monomer pair reaction system. Chitosan was mixed with 2-acry1amido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid) (AMPS) in an aqueous solution, followed by polymerization of AMPS. The complex was formed by electrostatic interaction of NH3(+) groups of CS and SO3(-) groups of AMPS, leading to a formation of complex nanoparticles of CS-PAMPS. A series of nanoparticles were obtained by changing the weight ratio of CS to AMPS, the structure and properties of nanoparticles were investigated. It was observed that the nanoparticles possessed spherical morphologies with average diameters from 255 nm to 390 nm varied with compositions of the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were used as drug vehicles for doxorubicin, displaying relative high drug loading rate and encapsulation rate. The vitro release profiles revealed that the drug release could be controlled by adjusting pH of the release media. The nanoparticles demonstrated apparent advantages such as simple preparation process, free of organic solvents, size controllable, good biodegradability and biocompatibility, and they could be potentially used in drug controlled release field.

Titanium Oxide/Silicon Moth-Eye Structures with Antireflection, p–n Heterojunctions, and Superhydrophilicity

By employing KOH etching of silicon and hydrothermal growth of titanium oxide (TiO2), TiO2 nanorods assembled on the silicon micropyramids to form biomimetic composite coating, similar to moth-eye structures. The biomimetic composite coating possessed not only the micro-nano hierarchical structures but also the p-n heterojunctions, resulting in a decrease in the reflection of incident light and an increase in the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers. Meanwhile, the structures showed excellent superhydrophilicity, making for the self-cleaning of the material surface. We further demonstrate that by exploiting the advantages of this method, the application of such structures in the photocatalysis field is thus straightforward.

Grafting Polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide on the Surfaces of Silica by ATRP and Its Application in HPLC

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) was grafted on the surface of ultrafine silica beads through Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). The synthetic included the introduction of initiator and ATRP polymerization. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that a homogeneous and smooth poly(N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAm) layer was formed on the silica surface. The differential scanning calorimetry indicated the composite particles were thermosensitive. The polymer (PNIPAm) was cleaved from the silica composites to be analyzed. The molecular weight of the PNIPAm can be well-controlled by adjusting the feed ratio of the monomers and the polydispersity index was very narrow. The PNIPAm-modified silica particles were used as packing materials in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for separating organic compounds. The result indicated that the satisfactory separations could be successfully achieved only by controlling the temperature of the column.

Fabricating sub-100nm conducting polymer nanowires by edge nanoimprint lithography.

In this paper, a convenient and universal strategy is reported to fabricate high-resolution conducting polymer nanowires, combining edge nanoimprinting with gas etching. Based on this method, 81.3nm polypyrrole nanowires were obtained, which is much smaller than the original cavity. The resulting conducting polymer nanowires exhibit representative ohmic behavior and excellent sensitivity to NH3. This method may potentially be used to construct other organic nanoelectronic devices.

Drug release behavior of poly (lactic-glycolic acid) grafting from sodium alginate (ALG-g-PLGA) prepared by direct polycondensation

Hydrophobically modified sodium alginate, poly (lactic-glycolic acid) grafting from sodium alginate (ALG-g-PLGA), was successfully synthesized through direct one-step polymerization of sodium alginate, glycolic acid, and lactic acid. ALG-g-PLGA self-assembled to colloidal nanoparticles and subsequently hydrogel microspheres were obtained by crosslinking ALG-g-PLGA nanoparticles in the solution of calcium chloride. The modified hydrogel microspheres could be used as the drug delivery vehicles for a hydrophobic ibuprofen. Compared with sodium alginate, ALG-g-PLGA demonstrated an improved drug loading rate, encapsulation efficiency, and prolonged release speed. The products, as novel and highly promising biomaterials, have potential applications.

Fabrication of 3D biomimetic composite coating with broadband antireflection, superhydrophilicity, and double p-n heterojunctions

The traditional single material with two-dimensional (2D) biomimetic moth-eye structures is limited by its narrowband antireflection and single functional capability. To overcome these disadvantages, we exploited wet etching and hydrothermal synthesis coupled with chemical oxidation for fabricating a three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic moth-eye coating with ternary materials (polypyrrole nanoparticles, TiO2 nanorods, and Si micropyramids, i.e., PPy/TiO2/Si-p). This coating reduced the reflectivity to <4% at wavelengths ranging from 200 to 2,300 nm and exhibited remarkable superhydrophilicity with a low water contact angle of 1.8°. Moreover, the composite coating had double p-n heterojunctions, allowing the high-efficiency separation of photogenerated carriers. The photo-current density of PPy/TiO2/Si-p was more than three times higher than that of TiO2/Si-p at a positive potential of 1.5 V. The proposed method provides a means to enhance solar energy conversion.