Targeted Delivery of Anticancer Drug Loaded Charged PLGA Polymeric Nanoparticles Using Electrostatic Field

Pure positive electrostatic charges (PPECs) show suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells without affecting normal tissues. PPECs are used for the delivery of drug-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (DLNs) capped with negatively charged poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and Poly(vinyl-alcohol) PVA into the tumor site of mouse models. The charged patch is installed on top of the skin in the mouse models' tumor region, and the controlled selective release of the drug is assayed by biochemical, radiological, and histological experiments on both tumorized models and normal rats' livers. It is found that DLNs synthesized by PLGA show great attraction to PPECs due to their stable negative charges, which would not degrade immediately in blood. The burst and drug release after less than 48h of this synthesized DLNs are 10% and 50%, respectively. These compounds can deliver the loaded-drug into the tumor site with the assistance of PPECs, and the targeted-retarded release will take place. Hence, local therapy can be achieved with much lower drug concentration (conventional chemotherapy [2 mg kg⁻¹] versus DLNs-based chemotherapy [0.75 mg kg⁻¹]) with negligible side effects in non-targeted organs. PPECs have many potential clinical applications for advanced-targeted chemotherapy with the lowest discernible side effects.     

Starch nanoparticles as a bio-nanocatalyst in synthesis of diheteroaryl thioethers

Nanostarch is shown to be a highly efficient, eco-friendly and heterogenous organocatalyst for the synthesis of the diheteroaryl thioethers via one-pot reaction of methylcarbonyls, thiourea and iodine in DMSO. This method offers significant advantages such as available starting materials, higher purity and excellent yield of products, very easy reaction conditions and absence of any tedious purification. Furthermore, because of employing eco-friendly catalyst without using transition metal catalysts, this novel method emerges as a green-approach leading to less harmful residues. Moreover, a mechanism was proposed to rationalize the reaction and the role of starch nanoparticles was also investigated in these transformations.     

A green and selective synthesis of 2‐aryloxazines and 2‐aryltetrahydropyrimidines

An efficient method for the selective synthesis of 2‐substituted oxazines and tetrahydropyrimidines by the reaction of arylnitriles with 3‐amino‐1‐propanol and 1,3‐diaminopropane in the presence of montmorillonite K‐10 and KSF as inexpensive, environmentally benign, and reusable catalysts under classical heating conditions and microwave irradiation is reported. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).     

Application of artificial neural networks for formulation and modeling of dye adsorption onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed to predict the adsorption amount of dye (methylene blue) onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Batch experiments have been carried out to obtain experimental data. Important parameters in the adsorption system such as initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, temperature, pH and contact time have been used as the inputs of the network, while the output is the final concentration of dye in aqueous solution after adsorption. The neural network structure has been optimized by testing various training algorithms and different number of neurons in a hidden layer. An empirical equation for determination of final dye concentration in aqueous solutions after adsorption has been developed by using the weights of the optimized network. The results of the optimized ANN have been compared with conventional models in equilibrium and kinetic fields. According to error analysis and determination coefficient, the ANN was found to be the most appropriate model to describe this adsorption process. Sensitivity analysis showed that initial dye concentration, pH and contact time are the most effective parameters in this process. The influence percentages of these parameters on the output were 28, 24 and 24 %, respectively.     

A new magnetically recoverable heterogeneous palladium catalyst for phosphonation reactions in aqueous micellar solution

A new heterogeneous palladium complex of 2‐aminothiophenol supported on nanomagnetic γ‐Fe₂O₃ was synthesized and characterized using various methods. The catalyst was used as a magnetically recoverable heterogeneous palladium catalyst for phosphonation reactions via C ? P bond formation. Using this method, a wide range of electrophilic benzenes was coupled successfully with phosphite esters (triethyl/tri‐isopropyl/triphenylphosphite and diethyl/di‐isopropyl/diphenylphosphite) in aqueous micellar solution to generate the corresponding arylphosphonates in good to high yields. The catalyst was separated using an external magnet and reused for six consecutive cycles without any significant loss of its reactivity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A highly efficient magnetic solid acid catalyst for synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles under ultrasound irradiation

Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were prepared by chemical coprecipitation method and subsequently coated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) via silanization reaction. Grafting of chlorosulfuric acid on the amino-functionalized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles afforded sulfamic acid-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (SA-MNPs). SA-MNPs was found to be a mild and effective solid acid catalyst for the efficient, one-pot, three-component synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles under ultrasound irradiation. This protocol afforded corresponding imidazoles in shorter reaction durations, and in high yields. This green procedure has many obvious advantages compared to those reported in the previous literatures, including avoiding the use of harmful catalysts, easy and quick isolation of the products, excellent yields, short routine, and simplicity of the methodology.     

Ultrasound promoted selective synthesis of 2-aryl-5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-oxazines catalyzed by K-10 and KSF montmorillonite clays: A practical procedure under mild and solvent-free conditions

Montmorillonite K-10 and KSF were found to be highly efficient, environmentally friendly and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for the selective synthesis of a variety of 2-aryl-5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-oxazines from arylnitriles and 3-amino-1-propanol under ultrasound irradiation. This new methodology provides excellent yields in short reaction times (10–25 min). The reaction work-up is very simple and the catalysts can be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused several times in subsequent reactions. This catalytic system also exhibits excellent chemoselectivity in the synthesis of mono-oxazines from dinitriles.     

Steam reforming for syngas production over Ni and Ni-promoted catalysts

In this article, nanocrystalline γ-alumina with high surface area (309 m² g^?1) and mesoporous structure with an average pore size of 4.3 nm was synthesized and employed as a carrier for the synthesis of Ni catalysts in steam reforming of methane. The results revealed that the metal–support interaction decreased by increasing the nickel loading and led to the movement of the T_max of reduction temperature to lower temperatures. The results demonstrated that the synthesized catalysts exhibited high CH₄ conversion and stability and increasing the nickel loading up to 10 wt% improved the CH₄ conversion. The results revealed that the incorporation of MgO in nickel catalyst improved the resistance of the catalyst against carbon deposition and also enhanced the catalytic activity and the 10%Ni–5%MgO–Al₂O₃ catalyst exhibited high stability during 60 h. The high stability of the promoted catalyst was related to the high basicity of the catalyst.

     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Polymer Systems Containing 4‐Silylmethylstyrene Units

A series of terpolymers containing silyl pendant groups were prepared by free radical cross‐linking copolymerization. Et₃Si and HMe₂Si were covalently linked with 4‐vinylbenzyl and abbreviated as TESiMSt and DMSiMSt, respectively. Et₃Si was covalently linked with 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The silyl‐linked HEMA are abbreviated as TESiEMA. Free radical terpolymerization of the methacrylic acid (MAA) with different molar ratios of organosilyl monomers was carried out at 60–70 °C. The compositions of the polymers were determined by FT‐IR spectroscopy and ¹H‐NMR. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymers was determined calorimetrically. The study of DSC curves showed that incorporation of monomers with cyclic units in polymer chains increases the rigidity of terpolymers and the Tg value is subsequently increased.