Qiaohong Peng

Self-assembled and covalently linked capillary coating of diazoresin and cyclodextrin-derived dendrimer for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis

Self-assembled and covalently linked capillary coatings of cyclodextrin-derived (CD) dendrimer were prepared using photosensitive diazoresin (DR) as a coupling agent. Layer by layer (LBL) self-assembled DR/CD-dendrimer coatings based on ionic bonding was fabricated first on the inner surface of capillary, and subsequently converted into covalent bonding after treatment with UV light through a unique photochemistry reaction of DR. Protein adsorption on the inner surface of capillary was suppressed by the DR/CD-dendrimer coating, and thus a baseline separation of lysozyme (Lys), myoglobin (Mb), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and ribonuclease A (RNase A) was achieved using capillary electrophoresis (CE). Compared with the bare capillary, the DR/CD-dendrimer covalently linked capillary coatings showed excellent protein separation performance with good stability and repeatability. Because of the replacement of highly toxic and moisture sensitive silane coupling agent by DR in the covalent coating preparation, this method may provide an environmentally friendly and simple way to prepare the covalently coated capillaries for CE.

Recent progress in preparation and application of microfluidic chip electrophoresis

Since its discovery in 1990, microfluidic chip electrophoresis (MCE) has allowed the development of applications with small size, fast analysis, low cost, high integration density and automatic level, which are easy to carry and have made commercialization efficient. MCE has been widely used in the areas of environmental protection, biochemistry, medicine and health, clinical testing, judicial expertise, food sanitation, pharmaceutical checking, drug testing, agrochemistry, biomedical engineering and life science. As one of the foremost fields in the research of capillary electrophoresis, MCE is the ultimate frontier to develop the miniaturized, integrated, automated all-in-one instruments needed in modern analytical chemistry. By adopting the advanced technologies of micro-machining, lasers and microelectronics, and the latest research achievements in analytical chemistry and biochemistry, the sampling, separation and detection systems of commonly used capillary electrophoresis are integrated with high densities onto glass, quartz, silicon or polymer wafers to form the MCE, which can finish the analysis of multi-step operations such as injection, enrichment, reaction, derivatization, separation, and collection of samples in a portable, efficient and super high speed manner. With reference to the different technological achievements in this area, the latest developments in MCE are reviewed in this article. The preparation mechanisms, surface modifications, and properties of different materials in MCE are compared, and the different sampling, separation and detection systems in MCE are summarized. The performance of MCE in analysis of fluorescent substance, metallic ion, sugar, medicine, nucleic acid, DNA, amino acid, polypeptide and protein is discussed, and the future direction of development is forecast.

Preparation of highly permeable BPPO microfiltration membrane with binary porous structures on a colloidal crystal substrate by the breath figure method.

A highly permeable brominated poly(phenylene oxide) (BPPO) microfiltration membrane with binary porous structures was fabricated by combination of the breath figure and colloidal crystal template methods. The pore size in the bottom layer of the membrane was adjusted by the diameter of SiO2 microspheres in the colloidal crystal template, while the pore size in the top layer of the membrane was adjusted by varying the BPPO concentration in the casting solution. The permeability of the membrane cast on the colloidal crystal substrate was much higher than that of the membrane cast on a bare silicon wafer. The binary porous BPPO membrane with high permeability and antifouling property was used for microfiltration applications.

Synthesis and modification of monodisperse silica microspheres for UPLC separation of C60 and C70

Monodisperse silica microspheres with average diameters from 1 μm to 2 μm were synthesized by a modified Stober method, in which an ethanolic solution of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was continuously supplied to the reaction mixture containing KCl electrolyte, water, ethanol and ammonia. The effects of reactant amounts, supply rate, and reaction temperature on the microsphere morphology were investigated. After surface modification with octadecyl trichlorosilane, the obtained monodisperse C18-silica microspheres with an average diameter of 1.5 μm were applied to ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) separation of fullerenes. Because of having a smaller size, the 1.5 μm monodisperse C18-silica UPLC stationary phase shows ultra high efficiency compared with the commercial C18-silica HPLC stationary phase with average diameters from 5 to 50 μm.

Preparation of Porous Poly(Styrene-Divinylbenzene) Microspheres and Their Modification with Diazoresin for Mix-Mode HPLC Separations

By using the two-step activated swelling method, monodisperse porous poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) (P(S-DVB)) microparticles were successfully synthesized. The influence of porogens, swelling temperatures and crosslinking agents on the porosity of porous microparticles was carefully investigated. Porous P(S-DVB) microparticles were used as a packing material for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Several benzene analogues were effectively separated in a stainless-steel column as short as 75 mm due to the high specific surface area of the porous microparticles. Porous P(S-DVB) microparticles were further sulfonated and subsequently modified with diazoresin (DR) via electrostatic self-assembly and UV (ultraviolet) radiation. After treatment with UV light, the ionic bonding between sulfonated P(S-DVB) and DR was converted into covalent bonding through a unique photochemistry reaction of DR. Depending on the chemical structure of DR and mobile phase composition, the DR-modified P(S-DVB) stationary phase performed different separation mechanisms, including reversed phase (RP) and hydrophilic interactions. Therefore, baseline separations of benzene analogues and organic acids were achieved by using the DR-modified P(S-DVB) particles as packing materials in HPLC. According to the π–π interactional difference between carbon rings of fullerenes and benzene rings of DR, C60 and C70 were also well separated in the HPLC column packed with DR-modified P(S-DVB) particles.

Synthesis of conductive magnetic nickel microspheres and their applications in anisotropic conductive film and water treatment

Polymerization while swelling, a promising and high-efficiency technique based on seeded polymerization, was applied to synthesize monodisperse polystyrene (PS) microspheres with an average diameter of ∼6 μm. The polymerization time was reduced to only 22 hours compared to the traditional way of about 3 days. Taking the synthesized PS particles as templates, conductive shells were prepared by chemically plating nickel on the particle surface. Moreover, an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) was produced using conductive nickel microspheres as electricity transmission media. After removing the PS templates, the obtained magnetic nickel hollow microspheres have a potential application in rapid waste removal and detoxification extraction with a very simple procedure.

Photosensitive diazotized poly(ethylene glycol) covalent capillary coatings for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis

A new method for the fabrication of covalently cross-linked capillary coatings of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is described using diazotized PEG (diazo-PEG) as a new photosensitive coating agent. The film of diazo-PEG depends on ionic bonding and was first prepared on the inner surface of capillary by self-assembly, and ionic bonding was converted into covalent bonding after reaction of ultraviolet light with diazo groups through unique photochemical reaction. The covalently bonded coating impedance adsorption of protein on the central surface of capillary and hence the four proteins ribonuclease A, cytochrome c, bovine serum albumin, and lysosome can be baseline separated by using capillary electrophoresis (CE). The covalently cross-linked diazo-PEG capillary column coatings not only improved the CE separation performance for proteins compared to non-covalently cross-linked coatings or bare capillary but also showed a remarkable chemical solidity and repeatability. Because photosensitive diazo-PEG took the place of the highly noxious and silane moisture-sensitive coating reagents in the fabrication of covalent coating, this technique shows the advantage of being environment-friendly and having a high efficiency for CE to make the covalently bonded capillaries.

Self-cleaning superhydrophobic coatings based on PDMS and TiO2/SiO2 nanoparticles

ABSTRACT Superhydrophobic coatings based on PDMS and TiO2-NPs/SiO2-NPs were prepared. Due to the photocatalytic property of TiO2-NPs, the PDMS/TiO2-NPs coatings could remove the organic pollutes efficiently, and showed an excellent self-cleaning properties. The superhydrophobicity of the PDMS/TiO2-NPs coatings was still remained after 6 months in the open air, which is much better than the PDMS/SiO2-NPs coatings.

Current status and future developments in preparation and application of nonspherical polymer particles

Nonspherical polymer particles (NPPs) are nano/micro-particulates of macromolecules that are anisotropic in shape, and can be designed anisotropic in chemistry. Due to shape and surface anisotropies, NPPs bear many unique structures and fascinating properties which are distinctly different from those of spherical polymer particles (SPPs). In recent years, the research on NPPs has surprisingly blossomed in recent years, and many practical materials based on NPPs with potential applications in photonic device, material science and biomedical engineering have been generated. In this review, we give a systematic, balanced and comprehensive summary of the main aspects of NPPs related to their preparation and application, and propose perspectives for the future developments of NPPs.

Selective adsorption and separation of adenine by molecularly imprinted polymethacrylic acid on surface of silica particles

ABSTRACT Adenine molecular imprinted polymethacrylic acid (PMAA) was in situ prepared on the surface of silica (SiO2) microspheres, constituting a thin and rough molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) layer as characterized by SEM, TEM and FT-IR. Dynamic method and competitive adsorption experiments were used to investigate the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, selective recognition and adsorption reproducibility of MIP-PMAA/SiO2 particles toward adenine. The results showed that the obtained particles have strong selective affinity, specific recognition and excellent reusability for adenine. MIP-PMAA/SiO2 particles were further used as stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and separation of adenine from other nucleic bases was achieved successfully.