Lessan, Fatemeh; Karimi, Mohammad; Bañuelos, Jose Leobardo; Foudazi, Reza
Phase separation and performance of polyethersulfone/cellulose nanocrystals membranes
We investigate the effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a hydrophilic nanoparticle on the characteristics of polyethersulfone (PES) based membranes. The membranes are fabricated using typical nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. We study the radius of gyration and aggregation of PES in dimethylformamide in the presence of CNC, the…
Characterization of phospholipid vesicles containing lauric acid: physicochemical basis for process and product development
Farkuh, Laura; Hennies, Paulo T.; Nunes, Cláudia; Reis, Salette; Barreiros, Luisa; Segundo, Marcela A.; Oseliero Filho, Pedro L.; Oliveira, Cristiano L. P.; Cassago, Alexandre; Portugal, Rodrigo V.; Muramoto, Rodrigo A.; Carretero, Gustavo P. B.; Schreier, Shirley; Chaimovich, Hernan; Cuccovia, Iolanda M.
Lauric acid (LAH) strongly inhibits the growth of acne-causing bacteria. LAH is essentially water-insoluble and the solubility of laurate (LA) salts are medium and temperature dependent. Hence, LAH/LA preparations are difficult to formulate. Here we fully characterized phospholipid vesicles containing up to 50 mol% LAH. Vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) containing…
Effective corrosion protection by eco-friendly self-healing PMMA-cerium oxide coatings
Harb, Samarah Vargas; Trentin, Andressa; de Souza, Thiago Augusto Carneiro; Magnani, Marina; Pulcinelli, Sandra Helena; Santilli, Celso Valentim; Hammer, Peter
Metallic alloys are extensively used in many technological applications, however their susceptibility to corrosion causes huge economical losses and can result in failure of critical components. Aiming to obtain environmentally friendly, self-healing and high efficient anticorrosive coatings, organic-inorganic hybrids consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) covalently bonded to CeO2/Ce2O3
Aescin-Induced Conversion of Gel-Phase Lipid Membranes into Bicelle-like Lipid Nanoparticles
Geisler, Ramsia; Pedersen, Martin Cramer; Hannappel, Yvonne; Schweins, Ralf; Prévost, Sylvain; Dattani, Rajeev; Arleth, Lise; Hellweg, Thomas
Mixtures of the phospholipid 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) and the saponin ?-aescin spontaneously form monodisperse, bilayered discoidal micelles (also known as bicelles or nanodisks) in aqueous solution. Such bicelles form below the melting temperature of DMPC when the phospholipids are in the rigid L?? state and are precursors of spontaneously formed vesicles.…
Nanoscopic Structure of Complexes Formed between DNA and the Cell-Penetrating Peptide Penetratin
de Mello, Lucas Rodrigues; Hamley, Ian William; Castelletto, Valeria; Garcia, Bianca Bonetto Moreno; Han, Sang Won; de Oliveira, Cristiano Luis Pinto; da Silva, Emerson Rodrigo
One of the most remarkable examples of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) is Penetratin, a 16-mer fragment derived from the Drosophila Antennapedia homeobox. Understanding the structure of Penetratin/DNA complexes is a key factor for the successful design of new vectors for gene delivery and may assist in optimizing molecular carriers based on…
Antigenic and physicochemical characterization of Hepatitis B surface protein under extreme temperature and pH conditions
Lopes, J. L. S.; Oliveira, D. C. A.; Utescher, C. L. A.; Quintilio, W.; Tenório, E. C. N.; Oliveira, C. L. P.; Fantini, M. C. A.; Rasmussen, M. K.; Bordallo, H. N.; Sant’Anna, O. A.; Botosso, V. F.
Hepatitis B virus causes acute and chronic infections in millions of people worldwide and, since 1982, a vaccine with 95% effectiveness has been available for immunization. The main component of the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine is the surface antigen protein (HBsAg). In this work, the effect of pH, ionic strength…
Solvent-non-solvent rapid-injection for preparing nanostructured materials from micelles to hydrogels
Lang, Chao; LaNasa, Jacob A.; Utomo, Nyalaliska; Xu, Yifan; Nelson, Melissa J.; Song, Woochul; Hickner, Michael A.; Colby, Ralph H.; Kumar, Manish; Hickey, Robert J.
Due to their distinctive molecular architecture, ABA triblock copolymers will undergo specific self-assembly processes into various nanostructures upon introduction into a B-block selective solvent. Although much of the focus in ABA triblock copolymer self-assembly has been on equilibrium nanostructures, little attention has been paid to the guiding principles of nanostructure…
Effect of Oleic Acid Coating of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles on Properties of Magnetic Polyamide-6 Nanocomposite
Gupta, Ranjeetkumar; Pancholi, Ketan; De Sa, Rulston; Murray, Duncan; Huo, Dehong; Droubi, Ghazi; White, Maggie; Njuguna, James
This work reports the development and testing of a magnetic polymer (Polyamide 6, PA6) nanocomposite capable of melting when exposed to an external magnetic field. Addition of high concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) can induce quick melting but is detrimental to the mechanical properties of the polymer. To reduce…
Precipitation in original Duralumin A-U4G versus modern 2017A alloy
Brunet, Magali; Malard, Benoit; Ratel-Ramond, Nicolas; Deshayes, Christophe; Joulié, Sébastien; Warot-Fonrose, Bénédicte; Sciau, Philippe; Douin, Joël; De Geuser, Frédéric; Deschamps, Alexis
Precipitation in Duralumin, a historic quaternary alloy of the type: AlCuMgSi, was never fully studied nor observed by current electron microscopy techniques. This article presents the full characterization and comparison of two alloys: a Duralumin (A-U4G) from the 1950s collected on a vintage aircraft and its modern equivalent: a 2017A…
Structural evolution of flow-oriented high density polyethylene upon heating: In situ SAXS and WAXD studies
Liao, Tao; Zhao, Xintong; Yang, Xiao; Coates, Phil; Whiteside, Ben; Jiang, Zhiyong; Men, Yongfeng
The structural evolution of micro-injection molded high density polyethylene (HDPE) at the molecular and lamellar levels was investigated as a function of temperature during heating process using wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques. The molded sample exhibits a peculiar multilayer structure of skin and…