Exploring the interfacial structure of protein adsorbates and the kinetics of protein adsorption: an in situ high-energy X-ray reflectivity study

The high energy X-ray reflectivity technique has been applied to study the interfacial structure of protein adsorbates and protein adsorption kinetics in situ. For this purpose, the adsorption of lysozyme at the hydrophilic silica-water interface has been chosen as a model system. The structure of adsorbed lysozyme layers was probed for various aqueous solution conditions. The effect of solution pH and lysozyme concentration on the interfacial structure was measured. Monolayer formation was observed for all cases except for the highest concentration. The adsorbed protein layers consist of adsorbed lysozyme molecules with side-on or end-on orientation. By means of time-dependent X-ray reflectivity scans, the time-evolution of adsorbed proteins was monitored as well. The results of this study demonstrate the capabilities of in situ X-ray reflectivity experiments on protein adsorbates. The great advantages of this method are the broad wave vector range available and the high time resolution.     

Polystyrene-supported chloroaluminate ionic liquid as a new heterogeneous Lewis acid catalyst for Knoevenagel condensation

Non-hygroscopic polystyrene-supported chloroaluminate ionic liquid was prepared from the reaction of Memfield resin with 1- methylimidazole followed by reaction with aluminum chloride.This Lewis acidic ionic liquid is environmentally friendly heterogeneous catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with ethyl cyanoacetate.The catalyst is stable(as a bench top catalyst) and reusable.     

Preparation of hydrosol suspensions of elemental and core–shell nanoparticles by co-deposition with water vapour from the gas-phase in ultra-high vacuum conditions

In this study, efforts were placed in giving some in vitro key clues to the question on which is more efficient for the cancer hyperthermia between intracellular and extracellular modalities. Near infrared (NIR) photothermal responsive gold nanorods (GNRs) were adopted to cause cellular thermolysis either from inside or outside of cells. GNRs were synthesized with the size of 30.4?nm (in length)?×?8.4?nm (in width). Demonstrated by ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasmon mass spectroscopy), UV?CVis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses, various cell uptake doses of nanoparticles were differentiated due to different molecular designs on GNRs surfaces and different types of cells chosen (three cancer cell lines and three normal ones). Under our continuous wavelengths (CW) NIR irradiation, it resulted that the cells which internalized GNRs died faster than the cells surrounded by GNRs. Furthermore, fluorescent images and flow cytometry data also showed that the NIR photothermal therapeutic effect was greater when the amount of internalized GNRs per cell was larger. Generally speaking, the GNRs assisted intracellular hyperthermia exhibited more precise and efficient control on the selective cancer ablation. To a larger degree, such a relationship between GNRs distribution and hyperthermia efficiency might be applied to wider spectra of cell types and heat-producing nanoparticles, which provided a promise for future cancer thermal therapeutic designs.