Synthesis and drug release properties of novel pH- and temperature-sensitive copolymers based on a hyperbranched polyether core

Multi-arm star amphiphilic hyperbranched copolymers with poly(2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) shell and hyperbranched poly(3-ethyl-3-(hydroxymethyl)oxetane) (HBPO) core were synthesized by reversible addition?Cfragmentation chain transfer method. The hyperbranched copolymers were further modified by succinic anhydride (SUC) to obtain the novel pH- and thermosensitive hyperbranched copolymer HBPO-star-PDMAEMAs-SUC. The composition and morphology of synthesized copolymers were investigated by ¹H NMR, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. These copolymers exhibited phase transitions in response to pH and temperature. The pH-dependent release properties of the drug-loaded micelles were also investigated using indomethacin (IND) as a model drug. The IND-loaded micelles displayed a rapid drug release at an alkaline pH.     

Synthesis of block polyethers with various structures and their application in dispersing single-walled carbon nanotubes

The block polyethers with different structure and composition were synthesized by anionic polymerization and used to disperse single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The block polyethers with the structure of branch or benzene ring had better dispersion ability than the commercial Pluronic block polyethers (L64 and F127). In order to compare the parameters, dispersion limit and efficiency of polyethers for SWNTs were defined. UV?Cvis?Cnear infrared absorbance spectra showed that eight-branch polyether AE82 had much larger dispersion limit and efficiency than five-branch AE52. BPE containing benzene rings in the molecule had a slightly lower dispersion limit but larger dispersion efficiency than AE82. The defect density of SWNTs dispersed in polyether aqueous solutions was investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The polyethers AE83 and BEP with the structure of poly(ethylene oxide)?Cpoly(propylene oxide) dispersed less defective SWNTs than AE82 and BPE, indicating that the variation of polyether structure and composition could influence the defect density of SWNTs besides dispersion limit and efficiency.     

Supramolecular hydrogels based on short peptides linked with conformational switch

Short peptides appropriately linked with an azobenzene conformational switch were found to be motif and pH dependant supramolecular hydrogelators. The hydrogelation properties of the short peptides linked with the conformational switch were studied in detail with respect to dependence on amino acid residue, pH and salt effect. The presence of amino acids with aromatic side chains such as Phe and Tyr was found to be favorable for the short peptides to gel water at an appropriate pH range. Cationic amino acid residues such as Arg and Lys in the short peptides were found to be unfavorable for hydrogelation. pH and salt effect were also found to be important factors for the hydrogelation properties of the short peptides. A series of short peptides with bioactive sequences were linked with the conformational switch and their hydrogelation properties were investigated. Photoresponsive supramolecular hydrogels were realized based on the E-/Z- transition of the conformational switch upon light irradiation. Proper combination of amino acid residues in the short peptides resulted in smart supramolecular hydrogels with responses to multiple stimuli.     

Preparation of a [Ru(bpy)2(dppz)]2+-intercalated DNA cast film using a self-standing method and its luminescence tuning by Cu2+ ions and EDTA

In this correspondence, we report on the first preparation of [Ru(bpy)(2)(dppz)](2+)-intercalated (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine; dppz = dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine) DNA films on an indium-tin oxide surface via a solution-based self-standing strategy, carried out by the direct mixing of aqueous solutions of both anionic DNA and cationic metallointercalator at a molar ratio of 5:6. The luminescence of a [Ru(bpy)(2)(dppz)](2+)-intercalated DNA cast film is studied and found to show excellent tunable characteristics by Cu(2+) ions and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid addition.     

Copper-catalyzed trifluoromethylation of aryl boronic acids using a CF3+ reagent

A copper-catalyzed process for trifluoromethylation of aryl, heteroaryl, and vinyl boronic acids has been developed. The reaction is conducted under mild conditions and shows tolerance to moisture and a variety of functional groups.     

Noise incorporated subwindow permutation analysis for informative gene selection using support vector machines

Selecting a small subset of informative genes plays an important role in accurate prediction of clinical tumor samples. Based on model population analysis, a novel variable selection method, called noise incorporated subwindow permutation analysis (NISPA), is proposed in this study to work with support vector machines (SVMs). The essence of NISPA lies in the point that one noise variable is added into each sampled sub-dataset and then the distribution of variable importance of the added noise could be computed and serves as the common reference to evaluate the experimental variables. Further, by using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, a P value can be assigned to each variable which describes to what extent the distributions of the gene variable and the noise variable are different. According to the computed P values, all the variables could be ranked and then a small subset of informative variables could be determined to build the model. Moreover, by NISPA, we are the first to distinguish the variables into a more detailed classification as informative, uninformative (noise) and interfering variables in comparison with other methods. In this study, two microarray datasets are employed to evaluate the performance of NISPA. The results show that the prediction errors of SVM classifiers could be significantly reduced by variable selection using NISPA. It is concluded that NISPA is a good alternative of variable selection algorithm.     

FITC-modified PPy nanotubes embedded in nanoporous AAO membrane can detect trace PCB20 via fluorescence ratiometric measurement

A highly sensitive and selective fluorescence ratiometric sensor membrane for 2,3,3'-trichlorobiphenyl has been achieved, via depositing polypyrrole nanotubes (PPyNTs, the fluorescence indicator) in nano-porous anodic aluminium oxide (NPAAO) template and subsequently immobilizing fluorescein isothiocyanate (as an internal reference) onto the inner walls of the PPyNTs embedded in the NPAAO.     

Pattern-dependent tunable adhesion of superhydrophobic MnO2 nanostructured film

Tuning the adhesive force on a superhydrophobic MnO(2) nanostructured film was achieved by fabricating different patterns including meshlike, ball cactus-like, and tilted nanorod structures. The marvelous modulation range of the adhesive forces from 130 to nearly 0 μN endows these superhydrophobic surfaces with extraordinarily different dynamic properties of water droplets. This pattern-dependent adhesive property is attributed to the kinetic barrier difference resulting from the different continuity of the three-interface contact line. This finding will provide the general strategies for the adhesion adjustment on superhydrophobic surfaces.     

Quantum chemical research on structures, linear and nonlinear optical properties of the Li@n-acenes salt (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4)

On the basis of the n-acenes (n = 1, 2, 3 and 4), the α-Li@n-acenes and β-Li@n-acenes salts were selected to investigate how increasing the number n of conjugated benzenoid rings affects the linear and nonlinear optical responses. The α-Li@n-acenes and β-Li@n-acenes salts are obtained by a lithium atom substituting the α-H and β-H, respectively. In the present work, both ab initio (HF and MP2) and DFT (B3LYP, BhandHLYP, M05-2X, and CAM-B3LYP) methods are adopted to calculate the polarizability (α(0)) and first hyperpolarizability (β(tot)) of the α-Li@n-acenes and β-Li@n-acenes salts. MP2 results show that the α(0) values of both classes of lithium salts increase with increasing number n of conjugated benzenoid rings. Interestingly, we found that the β(tot) values of α-Li@n-acenes and β-Li@n-acenes salts take on opposite trends: the β(tot) values of α-Li@n-acenes are decreasing slowly (2187 for α-Li@benzene > 1978 for α-Li@naphthalene > 1898 for α-Li@anthrecene > 1830 au for α-Li@tetracene) and inceasing remarkably (2738 for β-Li@naphthalene < 3186 for β-Li@anthrecene < 3314 au for β-Li@tetracene) for β-Li@n-acenes. Furthermore, we found that the β(tot) values (2738-3314 au) of the β-Li@n-acenes are larger than those of the α-Li@n-acenes (1830-2187 au). On the other hand, comparing the results of different methods, the β(tot) values obtained by the M05-2X and CAM-B3LYP methods reproduce the polarizability and first hyperpolarizability of the α-Li@n-acenes and β-Li@n-acenes salts well, which test and verify the results of the MP2 method. Our present work may be beneficial to development of high-performance organic NLO optical materials.     

A fully automated system with on-line micro solid-phase extraction combined with capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for high throughput analysis of microcystins and nodularin-R in tap water and lake water

Microcystins and nodularins are cyclic peptide hepatotoxins and tumour promoters from cyanobacteria. The present study describes the development, validation and practical application of a fully automated analytical method based on on-line micro solid-phase extraction-capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of seven microcystins and nodularin-R in tap water and lake water. Aliquots of just 100 μL of water samples are sufficient for the detection and quantification of all eight toxins. Selected reaction monitoring was used to obtain the highest sensitivity. Good linear calibrations were obtained for microcystins (50-2000ng/L) and nodularin-R (25-1000 ng/L) in spiked tap water and lake water samples. Excellent interday and intraday repeatability were achieved for eight toxins with relative standard deviation less than 15.7% in three different concentrations. Acceptable recoveries were achieved in the three concentrations with both tap water matrix and lake water matrix and no significant matrix effect was found in tap water and lake water except for microcystin-RR. The limits of detection (signal to noise ratio=3) of toxins were lower than 56.6 ng/L which is far below the 1 μg/L defined by the World Health Organization provisional guideline for microcystin-LR. Finally, this method was successfully applied to lake water samples from Tai lake and proved to be useful for water quality monitoring.