Formation and flocculation of graft copolymer micelles

Criteria for formation and flocculation of micelles from pure graft copolymers were investigated in single selective solvents by turbidimetry with the use of two series of graft copolymers from poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAC), i.e., PVAC–styrene graft copolymers with one branch and PVAC–methyl methacrylate graft copolymers with one and several branches. These graft copolymers could be completely coagulated through two processes in the selective solvents which had widely different ? temperatures. The first process is the formation of micelles. One sequence, i.e., either backbone or branch of the graft copolymers, becomes desolvated under conditions similar to those for the corresponding homopolymer. This results in formation of the core of the micelle, the other soluble sequence extending from the surface of the core into the solvent phase. As the soluble chains cover the micelle core, no macroscopic phase separation occurs, but a stable dispersion is formed. The second process is that the micelle becomes too unstable to exist as dispersed when the solvency of the medium for the soluble sequence decreases to a certain degree. As a result, flocculation of the micelle finally takes place.     

Designer self-assembling peptide scaffolds for 3-d tissue cell cultures and regenerative medicine

Biomaterial science has made enormous progress in the last few decades. Nonetheless, innovative biomaterials are still urgently needed to provide in vitro cell-culture models that more closely resemble three-dimensional (3-D) cell interactions and cyto-architectures in bodies and tissues. In this review, the recent advances toward this goal through molecular engineering of various designer self-assembling peptide scaffolds are discussed. These peptide scaffolds can be commercially and custom-tailor synthesized materials with high purity and may be not only useful for specific 3-D tissue cell cultures but also for tissue repair and regenerative therapies. Furthermore, these designer self-assembling peptide scaffolds have recently become powerful tools for regenerative medicine to repair nervous tissue, to stop bleeding in seconds, to repair infarctuated myocardia, as well as being useful medical devices for slow drug release.     

Nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers. IV. Second‐order optical nonlinearity of NLO polyurea and copolyurea with NLO dipole moments aligned transverse to the main backbone

This article presents the molecular orientation and second‐order optical nonlinearity of newly prepared polyureas and copolyurea with dipole moments aligned transverse to the main backbone. Nonlinear optical (NLO) polyureas, TPU and TPU2, were prepared from 2,4‐diamino‐4′‐nitroazobenzene (2R‐DIAMINE) with 4,4′‐diphenylmethane diisocyanate (DMDI) and tolylene 2,4‐diisocyanate, respectively. NLO copolyurea was prepared from DMDI with 2R‐DIAMINE and m‐phenylene diamine. TPU and TPU2 gave d₃₃ values of 12.5 and 9.8 pm/V, respectively, under optimum poling conditions. A time‐dependent decay curve of second‐order nonlinear susceptibility was fitted well with a Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts stretched exponential function. The relaxation time of TPU2 was 4.2 × 10⁸ s at 100 °C. Copolyurea was uniaxially drawn in ratios of 1.5 and 2.0. The average molecular angles Φ_X , Φ_Y , and Φ_Z in three laboratory frames were evaluated from the refractive indices. Φ_Y decreased and Φ_X and Φ_Z increased with an increasing draw ratio. The dependence of the second‐order harmonic intensity on the incidence angle, that is, the Maker fringe pattern, was fitted with two independent tensor components, d₃₃ and d₃₁, for undrawn film and five independent tensor components, d₃₃, d₃₂, d₃₁, d₁₅, and d₂₄, for drawn films. For drawn films, Kleinman symmetry was not satisfied: d₃₁ ≠ d₁₅ and d₃₂ ≠ d₂₄. An increase in the draw ratio gave rise to a large increase in the tensor component d₃₃. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 247–255, 2001     

CP/MAS 13C NMR analyses of hydrogen bonding and the chain conformation in the crystalline and noncrystalline regions for poly(vinyl alcohol) films

The chain conformation and hydrogen bonding in the crystalline and noncrystalline regions have been characterized for atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films prepared under different conditions by CP/MAS ¹³C NMR analyses developed recently. The CH resonance lines of the crystalline and noncrystalline components split in different ways, depending significantly on casting solvents and annealing. These lines are found to be successfully resolved into 3–7 constituent lines by the least‐squares curve fitting. In this analysis, nine lines with different chemical shifts are prepared as elementary lines for the curve fitting by assuming the upfield shifts due to the γ‐gauche effect and the downfield shifts due to the formation of the intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The integrated intensities of the constituent lines thus obtained are also interpreted in terms of statistical calculations, assuming the random distribution of the trans and gauche conformations along PVA chains and the statistical distribution of the intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds between appropriate adjacent OH groups. On the basis of probabilities f_t and f_a for the trans conformation and the intramolecular hydrogen bond obtained through these analyses, the effects of casting solvents and annealing are discussed for both crystalline and noncrystalline components. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1–9, 2000     

PIV measurement of particle motion in spiral gas–solid two-phase flow

With a concise review on some basic and novel algorithms and methods for the techniques of particle-imaging velocimetry (PIV), the paper reports an application of the PIV techniques to the investigation of particle motion in a gas–solid two-phase spiral flow in a horizontal tube. Axial velocities of the transported particles are obtained. Some important features of particle motion governing high transportation efficiency of the spiral flow are revealed by investigating probability density distribution of particle locations in a pipe cross-section.     

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors and Microglia as Therapeutic and Imaging Targets in Alzheimer’s Disease

Amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation and tauopathy are considered the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but attenuation in choline signaling, including decreased nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), is evident in the early phase of AD. Currently, there are no drugs that can suppress the progression of AD due to a limited understanding of AD pathophysiology. For this, diagnostic methods that can assess disease progression non-invasively before the onset of AD symptoms are essential, and it would be valuable to incorporate the concept of neurotheranostics, which simultaneously enables diagnosis and treatment. The neuroprotective pathways activated by nAChRs are attractive targets as these receptors may regulate microglial-mediated neuroinflammation. Microglia exhibit both pro- and anti-inflammatory functions that could be modulated to mitigate AD pathogenesis. Currently, single-cell analysis is identifying microglial subpopulations that may have specific functions in different stages of AD pathologies. Thus, the ability to image nAChRs and microglia in AD according to the stage of the disease in the living brain may lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods. In this review, we summarize and discuss the recent findings on the nAChRs and microglia, as well as their methods for live imaging in the context of diagnosis, prophylaxis, and therapy for AD.     

A Direct S0→Tn Transition in the Photoreaction of Heavy-Atom-Containing Molecules

According to the Grotthuss–Draper law, light must be absorbed by a substrate to initiate a photoreaction. There have been several reports, however, on the promotion of photoreactions using hypervalent iodine during irradiation with light from a non-absorbing region. This contradiction gave rise to a mystery regarding photoreactions involving hypervalent iodine. We demonstrated that the photoactivation of hypervalent iodine with light from the apparently non-absorbing region proceeds via a direct S₀→T_n transition, which has been considered a forbidden process. Spectroscopic, computational, and synthetic experimental results support this conclusion. Moreover, the photoactivation mode could be extended to monovalent iodine and bromine, as well as bismuth(III)-containing molecules, providing new possibilities for studying photoreactions that involve heavy-atom-containing molecules.