Enhanced Targeted Delivery of Cyclodextrin‐Based Supermolecules by Core–Shell Nanocapsules for Magnetothermal Chemotherapy

In this study, double‐emulsion capsules (DECs) capable of concealing drug‐incorporated targeted‐supermolecules are developed to achieve “on‐demand” supermolecule release and enhanced sequential targeting for magneto‐chemotherapy. These water‐in‐oil‐in‐water DECs less than 200 nm in diameter are synthesized using a single component of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) polymer and the magnetic nanoparticles, which are capable of encapsulating large quantities of targeted supermolecules composed of palitaxel‐incorporated beta‐cyclodextrin decorated by hyaluronic acid (HA, a CD44‐targeting ligand) in the watery core. The release profiles (slow, sustained and burst release) of the targeted supermolecules can be directly controlled by regulating the high‐frequency magnetic field (HFMF) and polymer conformation without sacrificing the targeting ability. Through an intravenous injection, the positive targeting of the supermolecules exhibited a 20‐fold increase in tumor accumulation via the passive targeting and delivery of DECs followed by positive targeting of the supermolecules. Moreover, this dual‐targeting drug‐incorporated supermolecular delivery vehicle at the tumor site combined with magneto‐thermal therapy suppressed the cancer growth more efficiently than treatment with either drug or supermolecule alone.

     

catena‐Poly[[aqua­bis(1H‐benzimidazole‐κN3)manganese(II)]‐μ‐adipato]

In the title polymeric complex, [Mn(C₆H₈O₄)(C₇H₆N₂)₂(H₂O)]_n, the Mn^II atom is surrounded by two adipate dianions, two benzimidazole mol­ecules and one coordinated water mol­ecule. The Mn atoms and coordinated water mol­ecule are located on a twofold axis, and the bridging adipate ligand is located on an inversion center. The adipate dianions bridge neighboring Mn^II atoms to form polymeric chains. Each Mn^II atom is seven‐coordinate, the longest Mn—O bond length being 2.5356 (16) Å.     

Atom‐Precise Organometallic Zinc Clusters

The bottom‐up synthesis of organometallic zinc clusters is described. The cation {[Zn₁₀](Cp*)₆Me}⁺ ( 1 ) is obtained by reacting [Zn₂Cp*₂] with [FeCp₂][BAr₄^F] in the presence of ZnMe₂. In the presence of suitable ligands, the high reactivity of 1 enables the controlled abstraction of single Zn units, providing access to the lower‐nuclearity clusters {[Zn₉](Cp*)₆} ( 2 ) and {[Zn₈](Cp*)₅(^tBuNC)₃}⁺ ( 3 ). According to DFT calculations, 1 and 2 can be described as closed‐shell species that are electron‐deficient in terms of the Wade–Mingos rules because the apical ZnCp* units that constitute the cluster cage do not have three, but only one, frontier orbitals available for cluster bonding. Zinc behaves flexibly in building the skeletal metal–metal bonds, sometimes providing one major frontier orbital (like Group 11 metals) and sometimes providing three frontier orbitals (like Group 13 elements).     

Determination of mercury and arsenic in fresh water by neutron activation analysis

Neutron activation analysis has been applied for the determination of Hg and As in freshwater samples. Preconcentration of Hg and As from the samples before irradiation by using active carbon for scavenging the chelate complex of Hg with dithizone at pH 1 and Fe(OH)₃ for co-precipitating arsenic was used. After irridiation, mercury was determined by direct counting of the irradiated active carbon. Arsenic was separated from Fe(OH)₃ by precipitating arsenic in the metal form after removing¹²²Sb by extraction in 2N HCl with Ni-diethyldithiophosphoric acid in carbon tetrachloride. The method is simple and reliable.     

Kinetic Studies of the Reactions of Pentacyanoferrate(II) Complexes with Peroxydisulfate

Reactions of Fe(CN)(5)L(3-) (L = 4-aminopyridine (4-ampy), pyridine (py), 4,4'-bipyridine (4,4'-bpy), and pyrazine (pz)) with peroxydisulfate, Fe(CN)(5)L(3-) + S(2)O(8)(2-) right harpoon over left harpoon Fe(CN)(5)L(2-) + SO(4)(-) + SO(4)(2-), have been found to follow an outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism. The specific rate constants of oxidation are 1.45 +/- 0.01, (9.00 +/- 0.02) x 10(-2), (5.60 +/- 0.01) x 10(-2), and (2.89 +/- 0.01) x 10(-2) M(-1) s(-1), for L = 4-ampy, py, 4,4'-bpy, and pz, respectively, at &mgr; = 0.50 M LiClO(4), T = 25 degrees C, pH = 4.4-8.8. The rate constants of oxidation for the corresponding Ru(NH(3))(5)L(2+) complexes were also measured and were found to be faster than those of Fe(CN)(5)L(3-) complexes by a factor of approximately 10(2) even after the corrections for the differences in reduction potentials and in the charges of the complexes. The difference in reactivity may arise from the hydrogen bonding between peroxydisulfate and the ammonia ligands of Ru(NH(3))(5)L(2+) and nonadiabaticity observed in the Fe(CN)(5)L(3-) complexes.     

Synthesis,photoluminescence, and electrochromic properties of wholly aromatic polyamides bearing naphthylamine chromophores

A series of novel polyamides with pendent naphthylamine units having inherent viscosities of 0.15–1.02 dL/g were prepared via direct phosphorylation polycondensation from various diamines and a naphthylamine‐based aromatic dicarboxylic acid, 1‐[N,N‐di(4‐carboxyphenyl)amino]naphthalene. These amorphous polyamides were readily soluble in various organic solvents and could be cast into transparent and tough films. The aromatic polyamides had useful levels of thermal stability associated with high glass‐transition temperatures (268–355 °C), 10% weight loss temperatures in excess of 480 °C, and char yields at 800 °C in nitrogen higher than 60%. These polymers showed maximum ultraviolet–visible absorption at 350–358 nm and exhibited fluorescence emission maxima around 435–458 nm in N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidinone solutions with fluorescence quantum yields ranging from 0.4 to 15.0%. The hole‐transporting and electrochromic properties were examined with electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods. Cyclic voltammograms of the polyamide films cast onto an indium tin oxide coated glass substrate exhibited one oxidative redox couple around 1.08–1.16 V (oxidation onset potential) versus Ag/AgCl in an acetonitrile solution and revealed good stability of the electrochromic characteristics, with a color change from colorless to green at applied potentials ranging from 0 to 1.6 V. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6094–6102, 2006     

Photolytic transformation of aryl benzobisoxazole and aryl benzobisthiazole compounds into carbon dioxide

Solid‐state aryl benzobisoxazole and aryl benzobisthiazole compounds photolyzed in the presence of O₂ undergo cleavage to produce benzobisoxazoles (or benzobisthiazoles), benzonitriles, and benzamides. A very high percentage of the carbon atoms in one of the two segments from chain cleavage are converted to CO₂. This very unusual observation has been carefully confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy analysis of the gaseous components in the photolysis vessel before and after photolysis, labeling experiments, and the correlation of the mass reduction in photolyzed polymers and the amount of CO₂ that evolves. The rate of CO₂ generation is used to compare the relative photostability of aryl benzobisoxazole and aryl benzobisthiazole model compounds, films, and fibers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1868–1877, 2007     

Functional Dihydro‐1H‐Imidazole Derivatives for MALDI Signal Enhancement of a Lysine‐Specific Chemical Modification

The enhancement of signal sensitivity and quantification of low‐abundance proteins is of great importance in proteomic analysis. The preparation of 2‐methoxy‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐imidazole (MeO‐DHIM) derivatives was accomplished by one‐step synthesis of O‐methyl‐isourea. The signal enhancement induced by these attached moieties increases in an order of compound 1 ≈? 4 < 2 < 5 ≈? 6 < 3 in MALDI mass spectrometry. Peptide‐compound 3 adduct was approximately 20 times signal enhancement of the unmodified peptide and of 9 times of the peptide‐compound 1 adduct. This result demonstrates that the rational designed organic molecules are capable of providing a sensitive tool in the detection of low‐abundance proteins in proteomics.     

Synthesis and interfacial behaviors of amphiphilic poly(oxypropylene) amidoacids

A series of hydrophobic poly(oxypropylene) (POP)‐backboned and hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene)‐backboned amidoacids and imidoacids were prepared through the reaction of poly(oxyalkylene) diamines and trimellitic anhydride (TMA) under mild conditions. The synthesized copolymers were characterized with nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared. Their ability to lower the water surface tension and toluene/water interfacial tension was measured and correlated with the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance with multiple sodium carboxylate functionalities. The specific POP2000/TMA copolymers, consisting of a 2000 g/mol POP segment and multiple amidoacid functionalities, enabled the demonstration of a strong surfactant tendency and a critical micelle concentration at 0.1 wt %. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 646–652, 2006     

Synthesis of highly conductive EDOT copolymer films via oxidative chemical in situ polymerization

Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)s (PEDOT) represent a class of conjugated polymers that can be potentially used as an electrode material for flexible organic electronics due to their superior conductivity and transparency. In this study, we demonstrate that the conductivity of a PEDOT containing copolymer film can be further enhanced by the oxidative chemical in situ copolymerization of a liquid film spun coated from monomer mixture (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and 3‐thienyl ethoxybutanesulfonate (TEBS)), oxidant (iron(III) p‐toluenesulfonate (Fe(OTs)₃)), weak base (imidazole), and solvent (methanol). We investigated that the effect of the processing parameters such as the molar ratios TEBS/EDOT, IM/EDOT, and Fe(OTs)₃/EDOT on the surface morphology, optical property, and the conductivity of the resulting copolymer films. These parameters have been optimized to achieve conductivities for the copolymer films as high as 170 S/cm compared with a conductivity of 30 S/cm for the pure PEDOT film synthesized using the same fabrication method. This conductivity enhancement for the copolymer films was found to be resulted from the fact that the addition of TEBS monomer reduces the copolymerization rate, leading to the formation of much more uniform film surface without defects and copolymers of higher molecular weight which increase the conductivity of the resulting copolymer film. The composition of two monomers in the copolymer film is not related to the variation of conductivity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1662–1673, 2008