Reinforced Supramolecular Hydrogels from Attapulgite and Cyclodextrin Pseudopolyrotaxane for Sustained Intra‐Articular Drug Delivery

Injectable hydrogels for nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs’ (NSAIDs) delivery to minimize the side effects of NSAIDs and achieve long‐term sustained release at the targeted site of synovial joint are attractive for osteoarthritis therapy, but how to improve its mechanical strength remains a challenge. In this work, a kind of 1D natural clay mineral material, attapulgite (ATP), is introduced to a classical cyclodextrin pseudopolyrotaxane (PPR) system to form a reinforced supramolecular hydrogel for sustained release of diclofenac sodium (DS) due to its rigid, rod‐like morphology, and unique structure, which has great potential in tissue regeneration, repair, and engineering. Investigation on the interior morphology and rheological property of the obtained hydrogel points out that the ATP distributed in PPR hydrogel plays a role similar to the “reinforcement in concrete” and exhibits a positive effect on improving the mechanical properties of PPR hydrogel by regulating their interior morphology from a randomly distributed style to the well‐ordered porous frame structure. The hybrid hydrogels demonstrate good shear‐thinning and thixotropic properties, excellent biocompability, and sustained release behavior both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, preliminary in vivo treatment in an acute inflammatory rat model reveals that the ATP hybrid hydrogels present sustained anti‐inflammatory effect.     

Attapulgite grafted with polystyrene via a simultaneous reverse and normal initiation atom transfer radical polymerization

The surface grafting of attapulgite (ATP) with polystyrene (PS) was established via a simultaneous reverse and normal initiation atom transfer radical polymerization (SR&NIATRP). 4‐(chloromethyl)phenyltrimethoxysilane (CMPTMS) chemical bounded on the surface of ATP (ATP‐Cl, Cl‐I) was prepared via one‐step self‐assembly. SR&NI ATRP of styrene was conducted using CuCl₂ complex tris(2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl)amine (Me₆‐TREN) as the catalytic system, initiated by 2,2‐azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) and ATP‐Cl. FT‐IR, XRD, XPS, TGA and TEM data were consistent with the grafting of benzyl chloride groups and PS chains on ATP surface. The controllability of polymerization was investigated by the kinetics behavior under different molar ratio of AIBN and CuCl₂. The obtained polymer possessed a uniform distribution of molecular weights with a lower polydispersity index of 1.2～1.4. The relationship between polymerization on the surface of ATP and in solution was discussed in detail based on TGA data of hybrid particles and GPC trace of free polymer in solution. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1508–1516     

嗜中性粒细胞中过氧化氢及其释放过程的电化学检测

活性氧（ROS）是细胞代谢的重要产物之一,其浓度与多种生理、病理现象密切相关;H2O2是ROS的重要代表,对细胞内H2O2及其释放过程的测定有助于理解相关疾病的形成机制,因而具有重要的意义.本文报道一种检测细胞内H2O2浓度、监测其生成和释放过程的电化学方法,该方法利用固定在天然矿物凹土（attapulgite,全称凹凸棒石黏土）表面的血红蛋白（Hb）对H2O2还原的电催化作用实现H2O2的定量测定.将Hb固定到凹土表面制备了Hb-凹土（Hb-Atta）纳米复合材料,用透射电子显微镜（TEM）、原子力显微镜（AFM）、红外光谱（FTIR）、紫外-可见光谱（UV-vis）等对其进行了表征;将该复合物修饰到玻碳（GC）电极表面制成了Hb-Atta/GC电极,用伏安法考察了Hb在凹土表面的直接电子转移性能,结果表明,Hb能进行有效的直接电子转移反应,其伏安曲线上呈现出一对良好的氧化还原峰,式量电位（E0′）约为-350mV（vs.SCE,50mV/s）;进一步的结果表明,Hb-Atta对H2O2的电化学还原具有良好的催化性能,并能用于H2O2的定量测定,具有响应速率快、线性范围宽、检测限低等优点.将Hb-Atta/GC电极应用于嗜中性粒细胞内H2O2的测定,结果表明,该电极不仅能定量地检测细胞内的H2O2含量,还能监测细胞内H2O2生成和释放的过程,而且细胞内其他ROS和电活性物质如OCl-、NO.、ONOO-和抗坏血酸等不产生干扰.本文的结果为测量细胞内H2O2浓度、研究其生成及释放过程动力学以及进一步阐明由H2O2导致的相关疾病机制等提供了一个新的平台,可望在生物电化学、细胞生物学和病理生理学等领域得到应用.     

凹凸棒石在烟气SCR脱硝催化反应中的应用研究进展

选择性催化还原脱硝技术作为当前去除NOx的主要手段,该手段的最主要部分为催化剂。在诸多催化剂载体中,凹凸棒石以其独特的天然一维结构、丰富的表面官能团、热稳定性及成型性好等优势脱颖而出。我们综述了近年来以凹凸棒石为载体在SCR脱硝催化剂制备中的应用,并且论述了影响催化剂SCR脱硝性能的主要因素,同时分析了使此类催化剂失活的原因以及失活催化剂的再生方法,并揭示了此类催化剂可能遵循的SCR反应机理,最后对催化剂未来的研究方向进行了展望.     

Preparation of magnetic attapulgite/polypyrrole nanocomposites for magnetic effervescence‐assisted dispersive solid‐phase extraction of pyrethroids from honey samples

In this work, a novel extraction technique based on the effervescence‐assisted dispersion and magnetic recovery of attapulgite/polypyrrole sorbents was developed for determining the concentrations of five pyrethroids in honey samples. The magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by a one‐pot method. Several experimental parameters that affected the extraction efficiency, including the dispersion conditions, pH, ionic strength, and desorption conditions, were investigated. Under optimal conditions, the calibration curves for the five pyrethroids in honey samples exhibited good linearity, with r² values ranging from 0.9979 to 0.9990. The limits of detection varied between 0.21 and 0.34 µg/L. Satisfactory recoveries of 81.42–106.73% with intra‐ and interday relative standard deviations of less than 6.94 and 10.89%, respectively, were obtained. Moreover, the sorbents exhibited acceptable batch‐to‐batch repeatability in the range of 5.06–15.01%, and each sorbent could be reused for up to four extraction cycles without a significant loss in the extraction recovery.     

Direct Electron Transfer of Glucose Oxidase and Glucose Biosensor Based on Nano-structural Attapulgite Clay Matrix

The direct electrochemistry of glucose oxidase (GOD) was achieved based on the immobilization of GOD on a natural nano‐structural attapulgite (ATP) clay film modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode. The immobilized GOD displayed a pair of well‐defined quasi‐reversible redox peaks with a formal potential (E^0′) of ?457.5 mV (vs. SCE) in 0.1 mol·L^?1 pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. The peak current was linearly dependent on the scan rate, indicating that the direct electrochemistry of GOD in that case was a surface‐controlled process. The immobilized glucose oxidase could retain bioactivity and catalyze the oxidation of glucose in the presence of ferrocene monocarboxylic acid (FMCA) as a mediator with the apparent Michaelis‐Menten constant K^app_m of 1.16 mmol·L^?1. The electrocatalytic response showed a linear dependence on the glucose concentration ranging widely from 5.0×10^?6 to 6.0×10^?4 mol·L^?1 (with correlation coefficient of 0.9960). This work demonstrated that the nano‐structural attapulgite clay was a good candidate material for the direct electrochemistry of the redox‐active enzyme and the construction of the related enzyme biosensors. The proposed biosensors were applied to determine the glucose in blood and urine samples with satisfactory results.     

pH-Responsive Nanocomposites From Methylcellulose and Attapulgite Nanorods: Synthesis,Swelling and Absorption Performance on Heavy Metal Ions

A pH-responsive methylcellulose-g-poly(sodium acrylate)/attapulgite (MC-g-PNaA/APT) nanocomposite superabsorbent was prepared by the free-radical solution polymerization of methylcellulose (MC), sodium acrylate (NaA) and nanoscale attapulgite (APT) in the presence of the crosslinker N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA). The structure and morphology of the nanocomposite were characterized by FTIR, FESEM, TEM, XRD and EDS techniques, and the effects of the amount of MBA, MC and APT nanorods on swelling behaviors were also evaluated. Results indicate that NaA has been grafted onto MC macromolecular chains and APT nanorods participated in polymerization by its active silanol groups, and APT led to a better dispersion in the MC-g-PNaA matrix. The incorporation of APT clearly enhanced the swelling capacity and rate of the superabsorbent. In addition, the nanocomposite exhibited excellent absorption capacity on heavy metal ions, and its absorption amounts on Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions reached 9.86, 7.66 and 21.86 times greater than active carbon (AC). The biopolymer-based nanocomposite superabsorbents can be used as a potential water-saving material and candidate of AC for heavy metal ion absorption.     

Preparation and Characterization of Polyhydroxyurethane/Attapulgite Nanocomposites Via In-Situ Surface-Initiated Polymerization

The polyhydroxyurethane/attapulgite nanocomposites (PHU/ATP) were prepared by in-situ surface-initiated polymerization of a five-membered cyclic carbonate, 2, 2-bis [p-(1, 3-dioxolan-2-one-4-yl-methoxy) phenyl] propane (B5CC) and hexamethylene diamine, from the surface of the aminopropyl attapulgite nanoparticles (APATP) for the first time. The chemical grafting of the polymer on the surface of ATP was confirmed by FTIR and the morphology of the attapulgite nanoparticles in the nanocomposites was examined by TEM. The thermal stabilities of the polyhydroxyurethane (PHU) and the polyhydroxyurethane/attapulgite nanocomposites (PHU/ATP) were compared with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).The %G of the attapulgite nanoparticles was also calculated from the results of TGA after the free polyhydroxyurethane was washed off.     

Thermal Stabilities of Attapulgite/Polystyrene (ATP/PS) Nanocomposites via Microwave‐Assisted Bulk Polymerization

Attapulgite/polystyrene (ATP/PS) nanocomposites with different contents of attapulgite nano‐needles organo‐modified, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were successfully prepared by the in situ bulk radical polymerization of styrene, under microwave irradiation. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed good dispersibility of the organo‐modified attapulgite nano‐needles in the polystyrene matrices. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the thermal stability of the nanocomposite was enhanced with the increase of additional attapulgite nano‐needles.     

Non‐Isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of PA6/Attapulgite Composites Prepared by Melt Compounding

The non‐isothermal crystallization behaviors of neat polyamide 6 (PA6) and PA6/attapulgite (ATB) composites were examined using differential scanning calorimetry. The results show that ATB acts as a nucleator for PA6 matrix, accelerating the crystallization, and simultaneously obstructs the crystallization especially for the composites with higher ATB content. The analysis results using the Jeziorny and Liu equations verify the dual actions of the nucleation and the obstruction of crystallization of the ATB in the PA6 matrix. Kissinger's method is employed to obtain the activation energy of the crystallization processes; the results further indicate that the addition of ATB may also cause the above actions. It is speculated that there is a very complicated crystallization mechanism in the PA6/ATB composites based on the analysis of Avrami exponents obtained by the Jeziorny model.