PAM-microfabricated polyurethane scaffolds: in vivo and in vitro preliminary studies

Polymeric scaffolds were realised with linear degradable PU in the form of square, hexagonal and octagonal grids. They were characterised in terms of their mechanical properties. Analysis shows that the mechanical properties of the scaffolds depend on their geometries which are easily modulated using PAM. In vitro biological assays showed that PU promotes the adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast cells and that cell activities are better on PU scaffolds than on PU films. In vivo implantation of PU and PLGA scaffolds and PU films demonstrated that the scaffolds are completely resorbed after three months with a slight inflammatory response, while the PU film was still present after six months with an intense granulomatous reaction.     

Efficient and selective oxidation of methyl substituted cycloalkanes by heterogeneous methyltrioxorhenium–hydrogen peroxide systems

Polymer-supported methyltrioxorhenium (MTO) systems are efficient catalysts for the oxidative functionalisation of cyclohexane and cyclopentane derivatives with H₂O₂ as oxygen donor. Using poly(4-vinyl)pyridine and poly(4-vinyl)pyridine-N-oxide as MTO supports, cycloalkanol, cycloalkanediol, cycloalkanone and ω-hydroxy methyl ketone derivatives were obtained in different yields depending on the experimental conditions. Interestingly, cycloalkane dimers were selectively recovered in acceptable to good yields when the oxidation was performed with polystyrene-microencapsulated MTO catalyst. The EPR investigation suggests that the homolytic cleavage of the CH₃–Re bond with formation of CH₃ radicals occurs inside the polystyrene capsule, indicating a possible role of methyl radical in the cycloalkane dimerisation pathway.     

Influence of Polyfluorinated Side Chains and Soft-Template Method on the Surface Morphologies and Hydrophobic Properties of Electrodeposited Films from Fluorene Bridged Dicarbazole Monomers

A clear case of relationship between the monomer molecular structure and the capability of tuning the morphology of electrodeposited gas bubbles template polymer thin films is shown. To this end, a series of fluorene-bridged dicarbazole derivatives containing either linear or terminally branched polyfluorinated side chains connected to the fluorene subunit were synthesized and their electrochemical properties were investigated. The new compounds underwent electrochemical polymerization over indium tin oxide electrodes to give hydrophobic films with nanostructural and morphological properties strongly dependent on the nature of the side chains. Gas bubbles templated electropolymerization was next achieved by the addition of tiny amounts of water to the monomer solutions, without using surfactants. Within the investigated set of molecules, the nanostructural properties of the soft-templated films obtained from monomers bearing linear side chains could be fine-tuned by adjusting electrochemical parameters, leading to superhydrophobic surfaces.     

Tuning the Electrochemical Properties of Novel Asymmetric Integral Sulfonated Polysulfone Cation Exchange Membranes

In this study, novel asymmetric integral cation exchange membranes were prepared by the wet phase inversion of sulfonated polysulfone (SPSf) solutions. SPSf with different degrees of sulfonation (DS) was synthesized by variation in the amount of chlorosulfonic acid utilized as a sulfonating agent. The characterization of SPSf samples was performed using FTIR and ¹H-NMR techniques. SPSf with a DS of 0.31 (0.67 meq/g corresponding ion exchange capacity) was chosen to prepare the membranes, as polymers with a higher DS resulted in poor mechanical properties and excessive swelling in water. By a systematic study, the opportunity to tune the properties of SPSf membranes by acting on the composition of the polymeric solution was demonstrated. The effect of two different phase inversion parameters, solvent type and co-solvent ratio, were investigated by morphological and electrochemical characterization. The best properties (permselectivity of 0.86 and electrical resistance of 6.3 Ω∙cm²) were obtained for the membrane prepared with 2-propanol (IPA):1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) in a 20:80 ratio. This membrane was further characterized in different solution concentrations to estimate its performance in a Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) operation. Although the estimated generated power was less than that of the commercial CMX (Neosepta) membrane, used as a benchmark, the tailor-made membrane can be considered as a cost-effective alternative, as one of the main limitations to the commercialization of RED is the high membrane price.     

On the effects of system parameters on the response of a harmonically excited system consisting of weakly coupled nonlinear and linear oscillators

This paper discusses the dynamic behaviour of a nonlinear two degree-of-freedom system consisting of a harmonically excited linear oscillator weakly connected to a nonlinear attachment having linear and cubic restoring forces. The effects of the system parameters on the shape of the frequency-response curve are investigated, in particular those yielding the appearance and disappearance of outer and inner detached resonance curves. In contrast to the case when the linear stiffness of the attachment is zero, it is found that multivaluedness occurs at low frequencies as the resonant peak bends to the right. It is also found that as the coefficient of the linear term increases, the range of parameters yielding detached curves reduces. Compared to the case when the attached system has no linear stiffness term, this range of parameters corresponds to smaller values of the damping and nonlinear coefficients. Approximate analytical expressions for the jump-up and jump-down frequencies of the system under investigation are also derived.     

Easily Available,Amphiphilic Diiron Cyclopentadienyl Complexes Exhibit in Vitro Anticancer Activity in 2D and 3D Human Cancer Cells through Redox Modulation Triggered by CO Release

A straightforward two-step procedure via single CO removal allows the conversion of commercial [Fe₂Cp₂(CO)₄] into a range of amphiphilic and robust ionic complexes based on a hybrid aminocarbyne/iminium ligand, [Fe₂Cp₂(CO)₃{CN(R)(R’)}]X (R, R’=alkyl or aryl; X=CF₃SO₃ or BF₄), on up to multigram scales. Their physicochemical properties can be modulated by an appropriate choice of N-substituents and counteranion. Tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines, the complexes were shown to possess promising antiproliferative activity and to circumvent multidrug resistance. Interestingly, most derivatives also retained a significant cytotoxic activity against human cancer 3D cell cultures. Among them, the complex with R=4-C₆H₄OMe and R’=Me emerged as the best performer of the series, being on average about six times more active against cancer cells than a noncancerous cell line, and displayed IC₅₀ values comparable to those of cisplatin in 3D cell cultures. Mechanistic studies revealed the ability of the complexes to release carbon monoxide and to act as oxidative stress inducers in cancer cells.     

Straightforward Synthesis of (R,S)-β-Methyleneaspartic Acid, an Inhibitor of Glutamate-Aspartate Transaminase

A Baylis-Hillman adduct of methyl acrylate and ethyl glyoxalate was converted into the trichloroacetimidate that in the presence of DABCO rearranged to the corresponding trichloroacetamide. Eventually, hydrolysis under acidic conditions, led to the hydrochloride of racemic β-methyleneaspartic acid.     

Observer-dependent Gauss–Codazzi formalism for null hypersurfaces in the space–time

We introduce a new Gauss–Codazzi framework for null hypersurfaces in the space–time. First, with the use of space–time splitting techniques, and working within the framework of general coordinates of the ambient space–time, we generalize the second fundamental form and the Ricci and Gauss–Codazzi formulae of a non-null hypersurface Σ to a neighbourhood of it. Then in a similar way we introduce a second fundamental form analogue for the null hypersurface case, and deduce the corresponding Ricci and Gauss–Codazzi formulae.     

Synthesis,crystal and molecular structure,and spectroscopic properties of manganese(II) bis(2,5-diamino-1,3,4-thiadiazole) diaqua dichloride

The reaction product of manganese(II) chloride and 2,5-diamino-1,3,4-thiadiazole was prepared and characterized by means of structural, and spectroscopic measurements. The crystals are monoclinic, space groupC2/c, witha=12.403(4),b=10.742(2),c=10.449(5)Å,=92.61(3)°, andZ=4. The structure was solved by the heavy-atom method, and least-squares refinement of structural parameters led to a conventionalR factor of 0.020 for 1518 independent reflections. The structure consists of discrete molecules with twofold symmetry in which the manganese atom is coordinated in slightly distorted octahedral geometry by two nitrogen, two oxygen and two chlorine atoms.     

{\mathbb{Z}_{2}} Invariants of Topological Insulators as Geometric Obstructions

We consider a gapped periodic quantum system with time-reversal symmetry of fermionic (or odd) type, i.e. the time-reversal operator squares to \({-\mathbb{1}}\). We investigate the existence of periodic and time-reversal invariant Bloch frames in dimensions 2 and 3. In 2d, the obstruction to the existence of such a frame is shown to be encoded in a \({\mathbb{Z}_2}\)-valued topological invariant, which can be computed by a simple algorithm. We prove that the latter agrees with the Fu-Kane index. In 3d, instead, four \({\mathbb{Z}_2}\) invariants emerge from the construction, again related to the Fu-Kane-Mele indices. When no topological obstruction is present, we provide a constructive algorithm yielding explicitly a periodic and time-reversal invariant Bloch frame. The result is formulated in an abstract setting, so that it applies both to discrete models and to continuous ones.