Simultaneous measurement of mechanical and surface properties in thermoresponsive, anchored hydrogel films

Hydrogel films have been used extensively in the preparation of biosensors and biomedical devices. The characteristics of the aqueous interface of the polymer layer are significant for the biosensor or device function; likewise, the changing mechanical properties of thermoresponsive polymers are an important feature that affects the polymer behavior. Atomic force microscopy was used here to characterize both the surface and the mechanical properties of polymeric hydrogel films prepared from a thermoresponsive terpolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylic acid with benzophenonemethacrylate as a photoreactive cross-linker comonomer. The force-distance curves thus obtained were analyzed to assess both the surface forces and the mechanical response that were associated with the hydrogel. These properties were investigated as a function of temperature, in water and in Tris buffer, for different degrees of polymer cross-linking. For samples in water, the distance over which the surface forces were effective was found to remain constant as the temperature was increased from 26 to 42 °C, even though the mechanical response indicated that the samples had been heated past the lower critical solution temperature, or LCST. The bulk of the polymer becomes less soluble above the LCST, although this does not seem to affect the surface properties. This may be due to the segregation of the acrylic acid-rich polymer segments near the gel surface, which is in agreement with reports for related systems.     

Structural characterization,thermal investigation,and liquid crystalline behavior of 4-[(4-chlorobenzyl)oxy]-3,4′-dichloroazobenzene

Using the Williamson method, a new dye 4-[(4-chlorobenzyl)oxy]-3,4′-dichloroazobenzene (CODA) with liquid crystalline properties was synthesized. The structure and the thermal behavior of CODA were investigated by means of nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and light polarized optical microscopy techniques. The thermophysical processes were monitored by heating–cooling cycles, but the formation of liquid crystal phases were exhibited only for small values of the cooling rates. For the first heating–cooling cycle, the melting and the solidification processes, thus the characteristic temperatures, are shifted to higher values when compared to the following cycles.     

Connections between discontinuous Galerkin and nonconforming finite element methods for the Stokes equations

We study a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DGFEM) for the Stokes equations with a weak stabilization of the viscous term. We prove that, as the stabilization parameter γ tends to infinity, the solution converges at speed γ^?1 to the solution of some stable and well‐known nonconforming finite element methods (NCFEM) for the Stokes equations. In addition, we show that an a posteriori error estimator for the DGFEM‐solution based on the reconstruction of a locally conservative H(div, Ω)‐tensor tends at the same speed to a classical a posteriori error estimator for the NCFEM‐solution. These results can be used to affirm the robustness of the DGFEM‐method and also underline the close relationship between the two approaches. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2011     

Diorganodiselenides and zinc(II) organoselenolates containing (imino)aryl groups of type 2-(RN=CH)C6H4

Several new diorganodiselenides containing (imino)aryl groups, [2-(RN[double bond, length as m-dash]CH)C(6)H(4)](2)Se(2) [R = Me(2)NCH(2)CH(2) (4), O(CH(2)CH(2))(2)NCH(2)CH(2) (5), PhCH(2) (6), 2',6'-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3) (7)] were obtained by reacting [2-{(O)CH}C(6)H(4)](2)Se(2) (3) with RNH(2). Treatment of the diselenides 6 and 7 with stoichiometric amounts of K-selectride or Na resulted in isolation of the selenolates K[SeC(6)H(4)(CH[double bond, length as m-dash]NCH(2)Ph)-2] (9) and Na[SeC(6)H(4)(CH[double bond, length as m-dash]NC(6)H(3)(i)Pr(2)-2',6')-2] (10), respectively. The reaction of potassium selenolates with anhydrous ZnCl(2) (2:1 molar ratio) gave Zn[SeC(6)H(4)(CH=NCH(2)Ph)-2](2) (11) and Zn[SeC(6)H(4)(CH[double bond, length as m-dash]NC(6)H(3)(i)Pr(2)-2',6')-2](2) (12). When the dark green solution obtained from diselenide 7 and an excess of Na (after removal of the unreacted metal) was reacted with anhydrous ZnCl(2) a carbon-carbon coupling reaction occurred and the 9,10-(2',6'-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3)NH)(2)C(14)H(10) (8) species was obtained. The compounds were investigated in solution by multinuclear NMR ((1)H, (13)C, (77)Se, including 2D and variable temperature experiments) and by mass spectrometry. The molecular structures of 6, 8, 11 and 12 were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. All compounds are monomeric in the solid state. In the diselenide 6 the (imino)aryl group acts as a (C,N)-ligand resulting in a distorted T-shaped coordination geometry of type (C,N)SeX (X = Se). For the zinc complexes 11 and 12 the (Se,N) chelate pattern of the selenolato ligands results in tetrahedral Zn(Se,N)(2) cores.     

Cellular delivery of pyrenyl-arene ruthenium complexes by a water-soluble arene ruthenium metalla-cage

Three pyrenyl-arene ruthenium complexes (M(1)-M(3)) of the general formula [Ru(η(6)-arene-pyrenyl)Cl(2)(pta)] (pta = 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane) have been synthesised and characterised. Prior to the coordination to ruthenium, pyrene was connected to the arene ligand via an alkane chain containing different functional groups: ester (L(1)), ether (L(2)) and amide (L(3)), respectively. Furthermore, the pyrenyl moieties of the M(n) complexes were encapsulated within the hydrophobic cavity of the water soluble metalla-cage, [Ru(6)(η(6)-p-cymene)(6)(tpt)(2)(donq)(3)](6+) (tpt = 2,4,6-tri-(pyridin-4-yl)-1,3,5-triazine; donq = 5,8-dioxydo-1,4-naphthoquinonato), while the arene ruthenium end was pointing out of the cage, thus giving rise to the corresponding host-guest systems [M(n)?Ru(6)(η(6)-p-cymene)(6)(tpt)(2)(donq)(3)](6+) ([M(n)?cage](6+)). The antitumor activity of the pyrenyl-arene ruthenium complexes (M(n)) and the corresponding host-guest systems [M(n)?cage][CF(3)SO(3)](6) were evaluated in vitro in different types of human cancer cell lines (A549, A2780, A2780cisR, Me300 and HeLa). Complex M(2), which contains an ether group within the alkane chain, demonstrated at least a 10 times higher cytotoxicity than the reference compound [Ru(η(6)-p-cymene)Cl(2)(pta)] (RAPTA-C). All host-guest systems [M(n)?cage](6+) showed good anticancer activity with IC(50) values ranging from 2 to 8 μM after 72 h exposure. The fluorescence of the pyrenyl moiety allowed the monitoring of the cellular uptake and revealed an increase of uptake by a factor two of the M(2) complex when encapsulated in the metalla-cage [Ru(6)(η(6)-p-cymene)(6)(tpt)(2)(donq)(3)](6+).     

Thermo-responsiveness of polysiloxanes grafted with poly(dimethyl acrylamide) segments

Thermo-sensitive polymers are of outstanding importance due to their ability to undergo controlled major changes in their properties as a response to minor modifications in temperature. The syntheses of novel polymers by grafting polysiloxane containing chlorobenzyl groups in the side chain by the homopolymerization of N,N′-dimethyl acrylamide (DMA) or the copolymerization of DMA and methyl methacrylate (MMA) using SET-LRP technique are presented. The polymers were characterized by 1H-NMR, UV, and fluorescence spectroscopy, and DSC. The thermo-sensitivity and the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), as well as the aggregation phenomena during the phase transition are evidenced by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and rheology.      

Cell state change dynamics in cellular automata

Cellular automata are discrete dynamical systems having the ability to generate highly complex behaviour starting from a simple initial configuration and set of update rules. The discovery of rules exhibiting a high degree of global self-organization is of major importance in the study and understanding of complex systems. This task is not easily achieved since coordinated global information processing must rise from the interactions of simple components with local information and communication. In this paper, a fast supporting heuristic of linear complexity is proposed to encourage the development of rules characterized by increased dynamics with regard to cell state changes. This heuristic is integrated in an evolutionary approach to the density classification task. Computational experiments emphasize the ability of the proposed approach to facilitate an efficient exploration of the search space leading to the discovery of complex rules situated beyond the simple block-expanding rules.     

Water-soluble through-bond energy transfer cassettes for intracellular imaging

A special, water-soluble, fluorescent probe 1 was designed. This consisted of a fluorescein-based component to harvest irradiation at 488 nm and a rhodamine-based part designed to emit it at a significantly longer wavelength. This cassette was used to label an illustrative protein called ACBP. Evidence was accumulated to support the assertion that ACBP-1 bound its native ligand with a binding constant similar to that of the unlabeled protein, and retained its secondary structure (CD). ACBP-1 was imported into cells using the Chariot peptide. Confocal images proved that some ACBP-1 localized into the nucleus (as expected) and, most significantly, it could be visualized more effectively by irradiating at the donor (fluorescein-like) part of the cassette, than the acceptor (rhodamine-like) part. Overall, this study demonstrates that cassettes of this kind can label a protein without significantly perturbing its function or secondary structure and they can be visualized effectively via irradiation of the donor and observation of the acceptor fluorescence.     

An Approximate Kinetic Treatment of Slow‐Initiated Living Polymerization. I. First‐Order Initiation and Propagation

A new method for deriving the initiation rate constant for a slowinitiated living polymerization process in which all reactions are first order with respect to all participants is presented. The method is based upon an approximate analytical solution of the set of differential equations modeling this class of processes. The solution is found by asymptotic expansion of the unknown functions, using a dimensionless parameter which characterizes the process.