Biomaterial coatings by stepwise deposition of silk fibroin

A completely aqueous, stepwise deposition process with Bombyx mori silk fibroin for the assembly of nanoscale thin film coatings is reported the first time. The focus of this work was to develop an understanding of the control of this deposition process and to characterize the films formed from a physicochemical perspective. The deposition process was monitored by UV spectrophotometry and research quartz crystal microbalance. Both absorbance and film thickness correlated linearly with the number of silk fibroin layers deposited, analogous to multilayered materials fabricated from conventional polyelectrolytes. The polymer adsorption process was stable and reproducible, with control of a single layer thickness ranging from a few to tens of nanometers, determined by the concentrations of silk fibroin, salt concentration in the dipping solution, and method of rinsing. The driving force for the assembly of silk fibroin onto the substrate was primarily hydrophobic interactions, while some electrostatic interactions were also involved. The difference with this approach from traditional polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer techniques is that an intervening drying step is used to control the structure and stability of the self-assembled silk fibroin. The assembled films were stable under physiological conditions and supported human bone marrow stem cell adhesion, growth, and differentiation. This approach offers new options to engineer biomaterial coatings as well as bulk materials with control of both interfacial properties conducive to specific cellular or tissue responses and the potential to entrap and deliver labile molecules or other components due to the all-aqueous process described.     

Mass spectra of some alkyl isoxazoles

The mass spectra of several compounds obtained during the process of Stork's isoxazole synthesis9 as well as the related isoxazoles have been investigated. The fragmentations of simple alkyl isoxazoles are nicely formulated via azirine intermediates. A striking difference between the spectra of isoxazoles and those of methylfurans as to the relative abundance of [M — l] peaks is noteworthy. The very low abundance of these peaks in the former reflects the unique character of isoxazole nucleus due to the preferential cleavage of N? O linkage rather than a benzylic C? H bond rupture. If an alkyl substituent is present at 4-position in 3,5-dimethylisoxazoles, strong peaks at m/e 110, 68 and 43 are common in their spectra. The analyses of metastable transitions and high resolution measurements have demonstrated that the formation of these ions can be interpreted by a mechanism involving the cleavage of N? O linkage.     

Studies of the polymerization of diallyl compounds. VII. Kinetics of the polymerization of diallyl esters of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids

Radical polymerization studies on diallyl oxalate (DAO), diallyl malonate (DAM), diallyl succinate (DASu), diallyl adipate (DAA), and diallyl sebacate (DAS) have been conducted kinetically from the standpoint of cyclopolymerization. Benzoyl peroxide was employed as the initiator. The initial overall rate of polymerization, R_p was not proportional to the square root or the first power of the initiator concentration, [I]. But R_p/[I]^1/2 and [I]^1/2 bore a linear relationship, provided the monomer concentration was kept constant. The residual unsaturation of the polymers decreased with decreasing monomer concentration. The ratio of the rate constant of the unimolecular cyclization reaction to that of the bimolecular propagation reaction of the uncyclized radical, K_c, was evaluated from the above relationship between the residual unsaturation and the monomer concentration at 60°C. The K_c values obtained were 3.6, 3.2, 2.8, 2.5, and 1.2 mole/l. for DAO, DAM, DASu, DAA, and DAS, respectively. The overall activation energies of polymerization were found to be 21.1 (DAO), 24.2 (DAM), 21.7 (DASu), 22.0 (DAA), and 22.2 (DAS) kcal/mole.     

Aldol reaction of aluminium enolate resulting from 1,4-addition of Me2AlSPh to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound. A 1-acylethenyl anion equivalent

Me₂AlSPh or Me₂AlSeMe adds to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in 1,4-fashion. The resulting aluminium enolates react with aldehydes effectively to afford the adducts of the title anion after formal PhSH (or MeSeH)-elimination.     

Circular dichroism of copoly(γ-stearyl-L-glutamate–γ-methyl-L-glutamate)

Copoly(γ-stearly-L -glutamate-γ-methyl-L -glutamate)s with various compositions were synthesized by the ester exchange reaction of poly(γ-methyl-L -glutamate). Circular dichroism studies were carried out for solution and solid film as a function of the degree of stearylation and temperature. The slight and gradual temperature dependence of molecular ellipticity was observed for solution of all the copolyglutamates studied here and for the solid film of the copolyglutamate with the degree of stearylation of 16%, indicative of no reversal in the helix sense. However the remarkable change in negative molecular ellipticity with temperature was detected for the solid film of the copolyglutamate with a low degree of stearylation, e.g., 52%, whereas the drastic change in molecular ellipticity from a negative to positive value appeared for that with a higher degree of stearylation. This is discussed in terms of the reversal in the helix sense from a right- to left-handed α helix with the increase of temperature occurring at the melting temperature of the ordered side chain region.     

Thermal change of organic light-emitting ALQ3 thin films

A series of Alq3 thin films with the thicknesses of 50, 100, and 200 nm was deposited on Si substrates at room temperature using the thermal evaporation method. The thermal crystallization process of Alq3 thin films, especially 50 nm thick films, was successfully examined using high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) with the in-plane scan mode. Film thickness, density, and changes in surface roughness while heating were determined using X-ray reflectometry (XRR). The decreased density and increased surface roughness, which were accompanied by sublimation, indicate the instability of the Alq3 film. Thus, thermal instability is a major factor for device failure.     

Drying dissipative structures of colloidal crystals of silica spheres coated with polymer brushes of poly(carboxymethyl betaine)

Drying patterns of colloidal crystals of colloidal silica spheres coated with the brushes of zwitterionic poly(carboxymethyl betaine) (SiP-PCMB) and their parent silica spheres (SiP) were studied on a cover glass, a watch glass, and a Petri glass dish. Crystal structures kept the whole process of dryness of the suspensions of SiP-PCMB and SiP. Crystal structures of the dried films of SiP-PCMB were kept stable even when the initial suspensions contained 5 mM of sodium chloride, which is the important role of the excluded volume effects of the shells of the polymer brushes. On the other hand, crystal structures of SiP spheres in the dried films were much unstable and melted in the presence of 5 mM sodium chloride. In the suspension state, colloidal crystallization of SiP-PCMB took place stably by the contribution of the excluded volume effects besides the extended electrical double layers compared with that of SiP spheres, where only the double layer effect contributes to the crystallization. The fractal patterns of the complexation of SiP-PCMB or SiP spheres with sodium chloride were observed microscopically in the dried films. Several kinds of dissipative crystallization such as array and/or accumulation of the crystallites were observed, and the importance of the convectional and sedimentation processes during the course of dryness was demonstrated.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of novel ruthenium(II) complexes featuring an N,N,O-scorpionate ligand: A versatile synthetic precursor for open-face scorpionatoruthenium(II) complexes

The syntheses and characterization of novel ruthenium(II) complexes containing bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)acetato (bdmpza), a new class of scorpionate ligands, are reported herein. [RuCl(bdmpza)(η⁴-1,5-cyclooctadiene)] (1) was found to be a versatile precursor to synthesize a wide range of new ruthenium(II) complexes with the bdmpza ligand. The treatment of 1 with pyridine (py), diphenylphosphinoethane (dppe), 2,2′-bipyridyl (bpy), 1,10-phenanethroline (phen), or bispicolylamine (Hbpica) in refluxing N,N-dimethylformamide resulted in displacement of the 1,5-cyclooctadiene ligand to afford [RuCl(bdmpza)(py)₂] (2), [RuCl(bdmpza)(dppe)] (3), [RuCl(bdmpza)(bpy)] (4), [RuCl(bdmpza)(phen)] (5), and [Ru(bdmpza)(Hbpica)]Cl (6Cl) in good yields, respectively. The structures of 1–4, and 6 were determined by X-ray structure analyses.     

Ion-pair extractions by the use of planar and non-planar extracting solvents

The effect of extracting solvent was studied on the ion-pair extraction reactions with a special interest in the effect of molecular shape (planar or non-planar) of the solvent. The following two reactions were investigated: (HNN)_o + (Q⁺)_W (Q·NN)_o + (H⁺)_W (Extraction I); (Q-ClO₄)_o + (Pi^–)_w (Q·Pi)_o + (ClO ₄ ^– )_w (Extraction II), where HNN, NN^–, Pi^–, and Q⁺ represent 1-nitro-2-naphthol, its base form (1-nitro-2-naphtholate), picrate, and a cationic species, respectively. Above extraction equilibria were confirmed to hold in cases of various extracting solvents including planar solvents (1-chloronaphthalene, etc.) and non-planar solvents (1,2-dichloroethane, chloroform). An approximately linear relationship was found to exist between the extraction constants of Extraction I (logK _ex ^I ) and the Kosower's Z-value of extracting solvents. It was also found that the compatibility between the molecular shape of the ion-pair complexes and that of the extracting solvents affected the extractability to a considerable extent.