超分子水凝胶作为胰岛素缓释体系的研究

利用α-环糊精(α-CD)与含有聚乙二醇(PEG)链段的聚合物Pluronic F127的超分子作用制备水凝胶.该物理交联水凝胶的交联点包括α-CD与PEG链包合物堆积形成的微晶区和聚合物疏水链段聚集区.优化水凝胶组分,得到具有较低固含量和较短凝胶化时间的体系用于胰岛素的负载和释放研究.通过X射线衍射(XRD),扫描显微镜(SEM)对水凝胶结构进行表征.通过紫外分光光度计监测胰岛素的释放过程,结果表明,水凝胶释药时间约为65 h,且释放曲线较为平缓.细胞毒性实验结果表明该水凝胶材料对细胞生长无明显抑制作用.小鼠体内释药实验结果表明该水凝胶载体对延长胰岛素的释药时间有一定效果,可作为多肽类药物的缓释体系.     

基于聚乙烯的无规和嵌段接枝共聚物的制备

采用乙烯配位聚合和巯基-烯点击化学相结合的方法制备了羟基封端的线性聚乙烯,末端羟基含量接近100%;利用酰氯与羟基的高效反应,将羟基封端的聚乙烯转化为降冰片烯封端的聚乙烯大单体(PE-NB).使用Grubbs II代催化剂,将大分子单体与降冰片烯(NB)单体进行开环易位共聚,通过调整单体的投料比和加料方式制备了分子量和组成可控的聚降冰片烯-g-聚乙烯(PNB-g-PE)接枝共聚物.其中,无规共聚时,大单体的转化率接近100%,所得无规接枝共聚物的重均分子量为1.79×10~4~3.14×10~4,分子量分布指数为2.09~2.60,聚乙烯链段的质量分数为4.6%~16.8%;而嵌段共聚时,由于空间位阻原因,大单体的转化率约为80%.热分析研究发现,由于空间位阻,接枝共聚物的结晶度较聚乙烯前驱体略有下降,且接枝度越大,结晶能力下降得越多.     

Block copolymers at interfaces: Interactions with physiological media

Triblock copolymers (also known as Pluronics or poloxamers) are biocompatible molecules composed of hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks with different lengths. They have received much attention recently owing to their applicability for targeted delivery of hydrophobic compounds. Their unique molecular structure facilitates the formation of dynamic aggregates which are able to transport lipid soluble compounds. However, these structures can be unstable and tend to solubilize within the blood stream. The use of nanoemulsions as carriers for the lipid soluble compounds appears as a new alternative with improved protection against physiological media. The interfacial behavior of block copolymers is directly related to their peculiar molecular structure and further knowledge could provide a rational use in the design of poloxamer-stabilized nanoemulsions. This review aims to combine the new insights gained recently into the interfacial properties of block copolymers and their performance in nanoemulsions. Direct studies dealing with the interactions with physiological media are also reviewed in order to address issues relating metabolism degradation profiles. A better understanding of the physico-chemical and interfacial properties of block copolymers will allow their manipulation to modulate lipolysis, hence allowing the rational design of nanocarriers with efficient controlled release.     

Colloidal micelles of block copolymers as nanoreactors,templates for gold nanoparticles,and vehicles for biomedical applications

Target drug delivery methodology is becoming increasingly important to overcome the shortcomings of conventional drug delivery absorption method. It improves the action time with uniform distribution and poses minimum side effects, but is usually difficult to design to achieve the desire results. Economically favorable, environment friendly, multifunctional, and easy to design, hybrid nanomaterials have demonstrated their enormous potential as target drug delivery vehicles. A combination of both micelles and nanoparticles makes them fine target delivery vehicles in a variety of biological applications where precision is primarily required to achieve the desired results as in the case of cytotoxicity of cancer cells, chemotherapy, and computed tomography guided radiation therapy.     

The metathetic degradation of polyisoprene and polybutadiene in block copolymers using Grubbs second generation catalyst

A degradation study of polystyrene-polybutadiene-polystyrene and polyisoprene-polystyrene-polyisoprene in both dichloromethane and hexane solvents is presented. Alternative solvents for metathetic degradation provide the potential for greener chemistry, better selectivity, and control over the products. The catalyst concentration and solvent selection both determine the products formed. The degradation of polyisoprene and polybutadiene in a particular solvent was controlled by the solubility of polyisoprene/polybutadiene, and by its solubility relative to polystyrene. A large difference in solubility between the polymers in the selected solvent provides an additional driving force for block separation, encouraging reaction close to the interface between different blocks. Furthermore, solubility of the block copolymer speeds the degradation reaction. This tailoring of the reaction mechanism yields a new control over the products of polymer degradation.     

聚乙二醇-聚磷酸酯嵌段共聚物的合成与性质以及对紫杉醇增溶作用的研究

合成了一系列甲氧基聚乙二醇(MPEG)和聚(2-甲氧基乙基亚乙基磷酸酯)(PMOEEP)的两嵌段聚合物MPEG-b-PMOEEP,并研究了该嵌段聚合物对疏水性化疗药物紫杉醇(PTX)的增溶效果.以MPEG为引发剂、异辛酸亚锡为催化剂,对五元环状磷酸酯单体2-甲氧基乙氧基-1,3,2-二氧磷杂环戊烷(MOEEP)进行开环...     

On the block GMRES method with deflated restarting

In this paper, we consider the block-GMRES method with deflated restarting for solving nonsymmetric linear systems with multiple right-hand sides. We modify slightly the restarted block-GMRES method with deflation of eigenvalues proposed by Morgan to obtain a new one. It is shown that the modified method is mathematically equivalent to the Morgan’s original method. However, the error analysis shows the modified version minimizes the numerical errors during a restart and therefore is better suited if the linear systems have to be solved with high precision. Numerical experiments report the effectiveness of the modified method.     

Super-nucleation in nanocomposites and confinement effects on the crystallizable components within block copolymers, miktoarm star copolymers and nanocomposites

In this paper we reexamine recent results obtained by our group on the crystallization of nanocomposites and linear and miktoarm star copolymers in order to obtain some general features of their crystallization properties. Different nanocomposites have been prepared where a close interaction between the polymer matrix and the nano-filler has been achieved: in situ polymerized high density polyethylene (HDPE) on carbon nanotubes (CNT); and polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) covalently bonded to carbon nanotubes. In all these nanocomposites a “super-nucleation” effect was detected where the CNTs perform a more efficient nucleating action than the self-nuclei of the polymer matrix. It is believed that such a super-nucleation effect stems from the fact that the polymer chains are tethered to the surface of the CNT and can easily form nuclei. For polystyrene (PS) and PCL block copolymers, miktoarm star copolymers (with two arms of PS and two arms of PCL) were found to display more compact morphologies for equivalent compositions than linear PS-b-PCL diblock copolymers. As a consequence, the crystallization of the PCL component always experienced much higher confinement in the miktoarm stars case than in the linear diblock copolymer case. The consequences of the topological confinement of the chains in block copolymers and nanocomposites on the crystallization were the same even though the origin of the effect is different in each case. For nanocomposites a competition between super-nucleation and confinement was detected and the behavior was dominated by one or the other depending on the nano-filler content. At low contents the super-nucleation effect dominates. In both cases, the confinement increases as the nano-filler content increases or the second block content increases (in this case a non-crystallizable block such as PS). The consequences of confinement are: a reduction of both crystallization and melting temperatures, a strong reduction of the crystallinity degree, an increase in the supercooling needed for isothermal crystallization, a depression of the overall crystallization rate and a decrease in the Avrami index until values of one or lower are achieved indicating a nucleation control on the overall crystallization kinetics.