A facile approach to fabricate and embed multifunctional nano ZnO into soap matrix and liquid cleansing products for enhanced antibacterial and photostability for health and hygiene applications

This research demonstrates, a facile approach to fabricate the nano ZnO system in an unique combination of surfactant-polyol-assembly (SPA) acting as a caging agent restricting the ZnO crystallite size in nano-regime. This SPA is suitable for health and hygiene products and such optimized technique is among the very few researches exploring the impact of embedding low concentrations of nano ZnO system into the matrix of sodium salt of long chain fatty acids (soap bar) and liquid cleansing personal care products. The fabricated nano ZnO in SPA and infused products were systematically characterized using various advanced and appropriate techniques. The hexagonal wurtzite structure of nano ZnO-SPA is evaluated based on XRD pattern which also exhibit an average crystallite size as 20.18 nm and high specific surface area as 52.99 m²/g. The SEM-supported morphological assessment confirms the formation of agglomerates of ultrafine ZnO rods and spherical particles. Novel nano ZnO having wideband gap energy (3.66 eV) embedded in soap bar act as a UV-blocker preventing the oxidation of unsaturated long chain fatty acids. Soap bar without ZnO experienced degradation and reduction in whiteness to 17.85% whereas 2.5 mg/g nano ZnO infused soap shows the reduction to 7.9% which clearly reflects the increased photostability of soap bar. The antibacterial efficacy of nano ZnO-SPA and infused products are investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) by Zone of Inhibition (ZOI) and European standard EN:1276. Infused products exhibited high antibacterial efficacy up to 4.43 log reduction equivalent to >99.99% germ kill.     

Comparison of flow and batch polymerization processes for production of vinyl ether terpolymers for use in the delivery of siRNA

Synthetic polymers represent a modifiable class of materials that can serve as adjuvants to address challenges in numerous biomedical and medicinal chemistry applications including the delivery of siRNA. Polymer‐based therapeutics offer unique challenges in both synthesis and characterization as compared to small molecule therapeutics. The ability to control the structure of the polymer is critical in creating a therapeutic. Reported herein, are batch and flow polymerization processes to produce amphiphilic terpolymers through a Lewis acid BF₃OEt₂‐catalyzed polymerization. These processes focus on controlling reaction variables, which affect polymer structure in this rapid, exothermic, nonliving cationic polymerization. In addition to analytical characterization of the polymers, the in vivo activity of the polymer‐siRNA conjugates is also highlighted—demonstrating that the method of synthesis does affect the in vivo activity of the resulting polymer conjugate. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1119–1129     

一款教育类移动应用程序“爱猜元素”的开发

北京大学化学国家级实验教学示范中心开发了一款名为"爱猜元素"的教育类移动应用程序。它是以元素周期表为框架,"猜谜游戏"为逻辑主线,围绕元素知识及相关原理而设计的科普资源平台。本文主要介绍了该化学教育类app的设计理念、产品特点及其应用场景。     

Synthetic application of water-soluble hypervalent iodine reagents in aqueous media

Along with the vigorous development of hypervalent iodine chemistry, water-soluble hypervalent iodine reagents have received considerable attentions in recent years. In order to obtain water-soluble hypervalent iodine reagents, two strategies have been employed including introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the phenyl ring and formation of complex of iodosylbenzene with crown ether. And, it is observed that four kinds of hypervalent iodine reagents exhibit more or less solubility in water including hypervalent iodine reagents containing hydrophilic ligands, diaryliodonium salts, oligomeric iodosylbenzene sulfate, and iodylbenzene and its derivatives. In this review, we summarize these water-soluble hypervalent iodine reagents and their broad synthetic applications in aqueous media.     

Shape changing hydrogels and their applications as soft actuators

In nature, plants or animals change their geometric shapes and hence realize different functions or movements. Inspired by the shape changes of plants and animals, several hydrogels that can change their geometric shapes upon external stimuli have been developed. This article provides a brief overview of shape changing hydrogels. First, two strategies to realize the shape changes of hydrogels, that is, preparing hydrogels with inhomogeneous structures and applying inhomogeneous stimuli onto homogeneous hydrogels, are discussed. Then, external stimuli that can actuate the shape changes of the stimuli-responsive hydrogels are presented. The applications of shape changing hydrogels such as soft machines, soft robotics, drug carriers, microfluidic valves, and sensors have been provided in third part. Finally, we offer our perspective on open challenges and future areas of interest for the shape changing hydrogel actuators. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 1314–1324     

Substituted imidazolium phenylphosphonate salts for nonlinear optical applications

Three candidates for potential applications as new nonlinear optical materials were investigated using x-ray crystallography to probe the structure and powder second harmonic generation to elicidate the nonlinear response of the materials. Three structures are reported: 1-benzylimidazolium phenylphosphonate, 2-ethylimidazolium phenylphosphonate, and 2-methylimidazolium phenylphosphonate. Of these three salts two, 2-ethylimidazolium phenylphosphonate and 2-methylimidazolium phenylphosphonate, are noncentrosymmetric and therefore display a nonlinear optical response.     

Oriented growth of large size calcium fluoride single crystals for optical lithography

We report (1 1 1), (1 1 0) and (1 0 0) growth of CaF₂ by the vertical Bridgman method. Crystals up to 250 mm diameter were grown and various growth parameters such as growth rate, temperature gradient and post-growth cooling rate were studied. It was found that the growth rate and the cooling rate are slower for the larger diameter crystals with a fixed temperature gradient. These growth parameters were optimized for growing the crystals along specific orientation after realizing that CaF₂ has a tendency to grow along an orientation close to 1 1 0. Degradation in optical transmittance was evaluated by irradiating the crystal to γ-rays up to a dose of 10⁵ rad. Optimized scavenger addition resulted in crystals with better radiation resistance and excellent VUV transmittance.     

Cellular adhesion, proliferation and viability on conducting polymer substrates

This work reports a comprehensive study about cell adhesion and proliferation on the surface of different electroactive substrates formed by pi-conjugated polymers. Biological assays were performed considering four different cellular lines: two epithelial and two fibroblasts. On the other hand, the electroactivity of the three conducting systems was determined in physiological conditions. Results indicate that the three substrates behave as a cellular matrix, even though compatibility with cells is larger for PPy and the 3-layered system. Furthermore, the three polymeric systems are electro-compatible with the cellular monolayers.     

Effect of synthesis parameters on the structural,morphological characteristics,and photocatalytic activity of La2O3 nanoparticles

This study investigates the influence of synthesis processes such as sonication, sol-gel, and microwave on the production of highly crystalline Lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La₂O₃) employing Lanthanum nitrate and Ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) as precursors. X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analysis (DLS), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to examine the most effective processing method and its effects on the nanoparticle characteristics, such as structure, morphology, and optical and electrical behavior. Sonication produces La₂O₃ NPs with a smaller crystalline size, an agglomerated nanorod structure, a higher bandgap, and better electrical responsiveness than sol-gel and microwave techniques. Structural and optical characterization tests discovered this. The photocatalytic degradation activity of cationic Safranin and anionic Congo red dye exhibits degradation efficiency of around 90.13% and 89.66%, respectively.