Highly Porous Particles of Cellulose Derivatives for Advanced Applications.

A chemical modification of cellulose diacetate by phthalate and nitrate was performed to increase solubility in organic solvents and change the electrical properties. The role of substituents on the conductivity, permittivity, and polarizability of cellulose films is revealed. It has been shown that highly porous micro particles can be obtained from cellulose derivatives by a simple and technological freeze-drying method.

Visualization of 2D and 3D Tissue Models via Size-Selected Aqueous AgInS/ZnS Quantum Dots.

Three-dimensional (3D) spheroid cell cultures of fibroblast (L929) and tumor mammary mouse (4T1) were chosen as in vitro tissue models for tissue imaging of ternary AgInS/ZnS fraction quantum dots (QDs). We showed that the tissue-mimetic morphology of cell spheroids through well-developed cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions and distinct diffusion/transport characteristics makes it possible to predict the effect of ternary AgInS/ZnS fraction QDs on the vital activity of cells while simultaneously comparing with classical two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. The AgInS/ZnS fractions, emitting in a wide spectral range from 635 to 535 nm with a mean size from ∼3.

Chitosan Sponges for Efficient Accumulation and Controlled Release of C-Phycocyanin.

The paper proposed a new porous material for wound healing based on chitosan and C-phycocyanin (C-PC). In this work, C-PC was extracted from the cyanobacteria biomass and purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation. The obtained C-PC with a purity index (PI) of 3.

Enhanced Antibacterial Activity of Novel Fluorescent Glutathione-Capped Ag Nanoclusters.

Ag nanomaterials are promising candidates for the discovery of next-generation antibiotics with a high antibacterial effect against multi-drug resistant strains. This paper reports a simple synthesis of novel water-soluble glutathione-capped silver nanoclusters (GSH-Ag NCs) with an enhanced antibacterial activity. According to thin layer chromatography (TLC), the synthesized GSH-Ag NCs are an individual fraction of the same composition without any impurities.

Structural characterization and physicochemical properties of the exopolysaccharide produced by the moderately halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter salexigens, strain 3EQS1.

A strain, 3EQS1, was isolated from a salt sample taken from Lake Qarun (Fayoum Province, Egypt). On the basis of physiological, biochemical, and phylogenetic analyses, the strain was classified as Chromohalobacter salexigens. By 72 h of growth at 25 °C, strain 3EQS1 produced large amounts (15.