Photoresistivity and optical switching of graphene with DNA lattices

We present the photon induced conductivity of 2D DNA lattices with and without graphene and demonstrate the switching current responses controlled by light irradiation. The conductivity in the DNA lattices with protein streptavidin controlled by blue and white lights shows significant enhancement with the addition of graphene. An optical pulse response of a graphene immobilized DNA lattice is encouraging and may lead to various bio-sensing applications such as immunological assays, DNA forensics, and toxin detection.     

Synthesis of pentablock and multibranched copolymers bearing poly(ethylene glycol), hyperbranched polyglycidol,and poly(L‐lactide) with biocompatibility for controlled drug release

A series of multibranched pentablock copolymer (mBr5BlC), poly(L ‐lactide)‐b‐HBP‐b‐poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐HBP‐b‐poly(L ‐lactide) (HBP = hyperbranched polyglycidol), has been synthesized by ring‐opening multibranching polymerization of glycidol using bifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG; molecular weight (MW) = 1000] as an initiator, followed by ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of L ‐lactide in the presence of stannous octoate. The ROP of different amounts of L ‐lactide on HBP‐b‐PEG‐b‐HBP [MW = 2550; polydispersity index (PDI) = 1.08] yielded a series of the targeted mBr5BlCs of the MW range of 4360–15,300 with narrow PDI. All the mBr5BlCs have been well demonstrated to be in possession of good biocompatibility as biomaterials for various applications in biological medicine areas. The mBr5BlCs with tunable MW exhibited promising controllability in self‐assembly into spherical micellar structures with an average diameter range of 59–140 nm, which have no acute and intrinsic cytotoxicity against normal cells and provide a convenient strategy for drug loading. The anticancer drug doxorubicin was demonstrated to have a good affinity with the copolymer system, and its controlled release was performed in various pHs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Non-differentiable symmetric duality for multiobjective programming with cone constraints

Two pairs of non-differentiable multiobjective symmetric dual problems with cone constraints over arbitrary cones, which are Wolfe type and Mond–Weir type, are considered. On the basis of weak efficiency with respect to a convex cone, we obtain symmetric duality results for the two pairs of problems under cone-invexity and cone-pseudoinvexity assumptions on the involved functions. Our results extend the results in Khurana [S. Khurana, Symmetric duality in multiobjective programming involving generalized cone-invex functions, European Journal of Operational Research 165 (2005) 592–597] to the non-differentiable multiobjective symmetric dual problem.     

Hydrolytic decomposition of PFCs over AlPO4-Al2O3 catalyst

AlPO4-Al2O3 (Al/P > 9), prepared by impregnating (NH4)2HPO4 on Boehmite, showed high catalytic activity and durability for the hydrolytic decomposition of perfluoro compounds even in the presence of water and HF.     

A highly active zinc catalyst for the controlled polymerization of lactide

We report the preparation, structural characterization, and detailed lactide polymerization behavior of a new Zn(II) alkoxide complex, (L(1)ZnOEt)(2) (L(1) = 2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-{[(2'-dimethylaminoethyl)methylamino]methyl}phenolate). While an X-ray crystal structure revealed the complex to be dimeric in the solid state, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometric analyses showed that the monomeric form L(1)ZnOEt predominates in solution. The polymerization of lactide using this complex proceeded with good molecular weight control and gave relatively narrow molecular weight distribution polylactide, even at catalyst loadings of <0.1% that yielded M(n) as high as 130 kg mol(-)(1). The effect of impurities on the molecular weight of the product polymers was accounted for using a simple model. Detailed kinetic studies of the polymerization reaction enabled integral and nonintegral orders in L(1)ZnOEt to be distinguished and the empirical rate law to be elucidated, -d[LA]/dt = k(p)[L(1)ZnOEt][LA]. These studies also showed that L(1)ZnOEt polymerizes lactide at a rate faster than any other Zn-containing system reported previously. This work provides important mechanistic information pertaining to the polymerization of lactide and other cyclic esters by discrete metal alkoxide complexes.