2016 June - 37 articles
The determination of brominated flame retardants is of great importance, but remains a challenge. Particularly, universal and facile approaches are limited. Here we report a new general approach, combining molecular imprinting and electrospinning, fo...
A quick method involving the control of heat and water vapor pressure for preparing moisture-saturated carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP, 8 unidirectional prepreg layers, 1.5 mm thickness, epoxy resin) has been developed. The moisture-saturated...
The Flory–Huggins
For many years, copolymerization has been studied using mathematical and statistical models. Here, we present new Markov chain models for copolymerization kinetics: the Bernoulli and Geometric models. They model copolymer synthesis as a random proces...
Knowledge of the interactions between polymer and protein is very important to fabricate the potential materials for many bio-related applications. In this regard, the present work investigated the effect of copolymers on the conformation and thermal...
We use Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the interactions between cationic semiflexible polymer chains and a model fluid lipid monolayer composed of charge-neutral phosphatidyl-choline (PC), tetravalent anionic phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosph...
The free-radical homopolymerization of 1,3-bis(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)-2-propylmethacrylate dichloride (di-M) and 1,3-bis(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)-2-propylacrylate dichloride (di-A) in aqueous solution yields cationic polyelectrolytes (PEL) with the...
Whisker-type poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) nanofibers were aligned by restricting their growth direction using an approximately 100–1000 nm wide narrow groove fabricated by thermal nanoimprinting. In grooves made of an amorphous fluoropolyme...
A new composite poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) (PCL:PAA 1:5) scaffold was synthesized via dispersion of PCL particles into a PAA network. Silica microspheres (Si) (2–12 μm) were then prepared by a lyophilized micro-emulsion/sol...
Smart hydrogels are promising materials for actuators and sensors, as they can respond to small changes in their environment with a large property change. Hydrogels can respond to a variety of stimuli, for example temperature, pH, metal ions, etc. In...
In this study, a novel multiphasic model for the calculation of the polypropylene production in a complicated hydrodynamic and the physiochemical environments has been formulated, confirmed and validated. This is a first research attempt that describ...
Polyglycidol (or polyglycerol) is a biocompatible polymer with a main chain structure similar to that of poly(ethylene oxide) but with a –CH2OH reactive side group in every structural unit. The hydroxyl groups in polyglycidol not only increase the hy...
Scattering functions of sodium sulfonated polystyrene (NaPSS) star-branched polyelectrolytes with high sulfonation degrees were measured from their salt-free aqueous solutions, using the Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) technique. Whatever the c...
In order to understand orientation-induced crystallization of polymers, we introduced an intermolecular interaction between polymer chains based on quantum mechanics. We therefore considered a pair of perfectly extended chains where the intermolecula...
Flow induced crystallization of semi-crystalline polymers is an important issue in polymer science and engineering because the changes in morphology strongly affect the properties of polymer materials. In this study, a phase field technique consideri...
Composite tissue-engineered constructs combining bone and soft tissue have applications in regenerative medicine, particularly dentistry. This study generated a tri-layer, electrospun, poly-ε-caprolactone membrane, with two microfiber layers separate...
For many years, reduction of fuel consumption has been a major aim in terms of both costs and environmental concerns. One option is to reduce the weight of fuel consumers. For this purpose, the use of a lightweight material based on rigid foams is a...
The organic/inorganic hybrid materials from polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS, inorganic nanoparticles) and polybenzoxazine (PBZ) have received much interesting recently due to their excellent thermal and mechanical properties, flame retarda...
The development of novel theranostic nanovectors is of particular interest in treating formidable diseases (e.g., cancers). Herein, we report a new tumor-targetable theranostic agent based on core crosslinked (CCL) micelles, possessing tumor targetab...
Mass transfer restrictions of scaffolds are currently hindering the development of three-dimensional (3D), clinically viable, and tissue-engineered constructs. For this situation, a 3D poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/hydroxyapatite porous scaffold, which...
Genetic modification (“transfection”) of mammalian cells using non-viral, synthetic agents such as polycations, is still a challenge. Polyplex formation between the DNA and the polycation is a decisive step in such experiments. Star-shaped polycation...
This study describes the preparation of nanoprotein particles having lignin peroxidase (LiP) using a photosensitive microemulsion polymerization technique. The protein-based nano block polymer was synthesized by cross-linking of ligninase enzyme with...
Cartilage defects in the knee are often seen in young and active patients. There is a need for effective joint preserving treatments in patients suffering from cartilage defects, as untreated defects often lead to osteoarthritis. Within the last two...
The volume phase transition of slide-ring gels with freely-movable cross-linking junctions was investigated. Ionic chemical gels with fixed cross-linking junctions undergo volume phase transitions when they have higher than the critical degree of ion...
Molecularly imprinting polymers (MIPs) have been extensively applied in chromatography for the separation of chiral drugs. In this review, we mainly summarize recent developments of various MIPs used as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in high perform...
Different types of amphiphilic macromolecular structures have been developed within recent decades to prepare the polymer particles considered as drug delivery systems. In the present research the series of amphiphilic block-copolymers containing pol...
Currently, many sensitive molecules have been studied for effective oral administration. These substances are biologically active compounds that mainly suffer early degradation in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and physicochemical instability, inac...
The Mark–Houwink–Sakurada (MHS) equation allows for estimation of rheological properties, if the molecular weight is known along with good understanding of the polymer conformation. The intrinsic viscosity of a polymer solution is related to the poly...
Composite reinforcing bars (rebars) that are used in concrete members with high performance (strength and durability) properties could have beneficial effects on the behavior of these members. This is especially vital when a building is constructed i...
A knotty issue concerning the poor mechanical properties exists in the porogen leaching approach to porous scaffolds, despite its advantage in tuning pore structure. To address this hurdle, solid state extrusion (SSE) combined with porogen leaching w...
Lignin is a natural biopolymer with a complex three-dimensional network. It is the second most abundant natural polymer on earth. Commercially, lignin is largely obtained from the waste liquors of pulping and bioethanol productions. In this study, wh...
Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a well-known polymer used for implants and devices, especially spinal ones. To overcome the biomaterial related infection risks, 4-4′-difluorobenzophenone, the famous PEEK monomer, was modified in order to introduce b...
This paper describes a very simple strategy towards self-stabilized poly(acrylic acid)-block-poly(hexafluorobutyl acrylate) (PAA-b-PHFBA) block copolymer particles via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated polymerization-in...
Tris(4-(thiophen-2-yl)phenyl)amine- and dithienylpyrrole-based copolymers (P(TTPA-co-DIT) and P(TTPA-co-BDTA)) were electropolymerized on ITO electrode by applying constant potentials of 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 V. Spectroelectrochemical investigations reve...
Carbon microparticles were produced from organosolv lignin at 2000 °C under argon atmosphere following oxidative thermostabilisation at 250 °C. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, small-angle X-ray scattering, and electro-conductivity me...
The photostability of poly(vinyl chloride), PVC, containing various Schiff base metal complexes (0.5% by weight) was investigated. Various indices corresponding to a number of functional groups were monitored with irradiation of polymeric films to de...
Biomacromolecule activity is usually related to its ability to keep a specific structure. However, in solution, many parameters (pH, ionic strength) and external compounds (polyelectrolytes, nanoparticles) can modify biomacromolecule structure as wel...
