Nanocomposite hydrogel for skin motion sensing - An antifreezing, nanoreinforced hydrogel with decorated AuNP as a multicrosslinker.

In this study, we present a nanocomposite hydrogel designed for skin motion sensing. The hydrogel is based on poly(acrylamide) crosslinked with gold nanoparticles covalently bound to the polymer matrix, yielding a robust, highly elastic and conductive material. The choice of amino acid derivative - N,N'-diacryloylcystine salt (BISS) - as a crosslinker allows for the introduction of gold nanoparticles, due to the presence of sulfide groups in its structure.

Polyelectrolyte Membrane Nanocoatings Aimed at Personal Protective and Medical Equipment Surfaces to Reduce Coronavirus Spreading.

The study of the surface of membrane coatings constructed with adsorbed coronavirus (COV) was described to test their suitability for the antiviral activity for application in personal protective and medical equipment. The nanocoating based on polyethyleneimine (PEI) or polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) with metallic nanoparticles incorporated was investigated using the AFM technique. Moreover, the functioning of human lung cells in a configuration with the prepared material with the adsorbed coronavirus was studied using microscopic techniques and flow cytometry.

Biosupercapacitor with an enzymatic cascade at the anode working in a sucrose solution.

In this report, we demonstrate the advantages of the dual-mode operation of an enzymatic biosupercapacitor with nanostructured polypyrrole/nanocellulose, gold nanoparticle-based paper electrodes, sucrose as the anode fuel and molecular oxygen as the oxidant. The device allowed conversion of the sucrose biofuel, and offered storage of the generated power in the same, small-scale device. The external and internal biosupercapacitor re-charging modes were compared.

Multi-Substrate Biofuel Cell Utilizing Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose as the Anode Fuels.

A significant problem still exists with the low power output and durability of the bioelectrochemical fuel cells. We constructed a fuel cell with an enzymatic cascade at the anode for efficient energy conversion. The construction involved fabrication of the flow-through cell by three-dimensional printing.

The influence of metal-complexing macrocycle size on intramolecular movement in rotaxanes.

[2]rotaxanes composed of a dibenzo-24-crown-8 wheel (DB24C8) and an axle containing two metal-complexing tetraazamacrocyclic units linked with a p-xylylene bridge, coordinating the same or different metal ions (Ni and/or Cu) are described. A symmetric di-Ni rotaxane crystallizes in the monoclinic P21/c space group with one rotaxane cation and four PF6- counterions in the asymmetric part of the unit cell. In the crystal, the cations and anions of the investigated compound form an intertwined 3D-framework with C-HF and C-Hπ intermolecular interactions.

[3]rotaxanes composed of two dibenzo-24-crown-8 ether wheels and an azamacrocyclic complex.

The azamacrocyclic complex was used as a platform for the construction of [3]rotaxanes containing two DB24C8 macrocycles per molecule. The complex unit incorporates two electron deficient π-bond systems and two N-H hydrogen bond donating groups which facilitated the formation of a 1 : 2 interlocked structure. Synthesis and properties of such compounds are presented.

A novel live-cell imaging system reveals a reversible hydrostatic pressure impact on cell-cycle progression.

Life is dependent upon the ability of a cell to rapidly respond to changes in the environment. Small perturbations in local environments change the ability of molecules to interact and, hence, communicate. Hydrostatic pressure provides a rapid non-invasive, fully reversible method for modulating affinities between molecules both and We have developed a simple fluorescence imaging chamber that allows intracellular protein dynamics and molecular events to be followed at pressures <200 bar in living cells.

Towards potent but less toxic nanopharmaceuticals - lipoic acid bioconjugates of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles with an anticancer drug and addressing unit.

Modification of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with the lipoic acid derivative of folic acid was found to enhance their accumulation in the cancer cell, as compared to AuNPs without addressing units. The application of lipoic acid enabled the control of the gold nanoparticle functionalities leading to enhanced solubility and allowing for attachment of both the folic acid and the cytotoxic drug, doxorubicin. More robust attachment of doxorubicin to the nanoparticle through the amide bond resulted in toxicity comparable with that of the drug alone, opening a new perspective for designing more potent, but less toxic nanopharmaceuticals.

Reticulated vitreous carbon as a scaffold for enzymatic fuel cell designing.

Three - dimensional (3D) electrodes are successfully used to overcome the limitations of the low space - time yield and low normalized space velocity obtained in electrochemical processes with two - dimensional electrodes. In this study, we developed a three - dimensional reticulated vitreous carbon - gold (RVC-Au) sponge as a scaffold for enzymatic fuel cells (EFC). The structure of gold and the real electrode surface area can be controlled by the parameters of metal electrodeposition.

Macrocyclic multicenter complexes of nickel and copper of increasing complexity.

Multicenter (bi-, tri-, and tetranuclear) tetraazamacrocyclic complexes were self-assembled from Ni and Cu tetraazamacrocyclic mononuclear units and α,ω-diamines as building blocks. The structures of all compounds studied were proved by spectroscopic methods (ESI MS and NMR spectroscopy). Electrochemical experiments revealed reversible one-electron electrode processes at each of the Ni(2+) and Cu(2+) centers with formation of metal cations in oxidation state +3.

Structuring of supported hybrid phospholipid bilayers on electrodes with phospholipase A2.

The effect of a lipolytic enzyme, pork pancreatic phospholipase A(2), on hybrid bilayer membranes was monitored using voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance. The hybrid bilayers were prepared by Langmuir-Schaefer transfer of lipid monolayers onto gold electrodes modified with self-assembled alkanethiol monolayers, or by liposome spreading. The electrodes were immersed in the phospholipase aqueous solution to allow adsorption of the enzyme and cleavage of the ester bond in the sn-2 position of phospholipids in the outer leaflet of the hybrid layers.

Electrochemical and conformational consequences of copper (Cu(I) and Cu(II)) binding to beta-amyloid(1-40).

Copper-induced structural rearrangements of Abeta40 structure and its redox properties are described in this study. Electrochemical and fluorescent methods are used to characterise the behaviour of Abeta-Cu species. The data suggest that time-dependent folding of Abeta-Cu species may cause changes in the redox potentials.

Probing kinase activities by electrochemistry, contact-angle measurements, and molecular-force interactions.

Three different methods to investigate the activity of a protein kinase (casein kinase, CK2) are described. The phosphorylation of the sequence-specific peptide (1) by CK2 was monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Phosphorylation of the peptide monolayer assembled on a Au electrode yields a negatively charged surface that electrostatically repels the negatively charged redox label [Fe(CN)6]3-/4-, thus increasing the interfacial electron-transfer resistance.

Following protein kinase acivity by electrochemical means and contact angle measurements.

The electrochemical analysis of the protein kinase, casein kinase, is accomplished by the voltammetric response of Ag(+) ions associated with the phosphorylated product; the sensing surface is regenerated by the cleavage of the phosphorylated product with alkaline phosphatase, and the phosphorylation/de-phosphorylation processes are monitored by XPS and contact angle measurements.

Amplified electrochemical detection of DNA through the aggregation of Au nanoparticles on electrodes and the incorporation of methylene blue into the DNA-crosslinked structure.

The amplified electrochemical sensing of DNA is accomplished by the analyte-induced aggregation of nucleic acid-functionalized Au nanoparticles, deposition of the aggregates on a thiolated monolayer-functionalized electrode, and the voltammetric analysis of the redox-active methylene blue intercalated in the nucleic acid duplexes associated with the aggregates.

Electrochemical control of surface properties using a quinone-functionalized monolayer: effects of donor-acceptor complexes.

A benzoquinone monolayer-functionalized electrode reveals electrochemically or chemically controlled wettability; the hydrophobicity of the hydroquinone-modified surface is enhanced by the presence of a donor-acceptor complex with N,N'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium as the pi-electron acceptor.

Fine-tuning of properties of bismacrocyclic dinuclear cyclidene receptors by N-methylation.

N-Methylated bismacrocyclic Cu and Ni complexes were synthesised and structurally characterised in the solid state. Their properties in solution were analysed by using NMR and ESR spectroscopies and electrochemical methods. Face-to-face biscyclidenes linked through polymethylene chains form rectangular boxlike cations.

Intermetallic interactions in face-to-face homo- and heterodinuclear bismacrocyclic complexes of copper(II) and nickel(II).

New face-to-face heterodinuclear complexes containing copper(II) and nickel(II) in identical tetraazamacrocyclic environments have been synthesized and characterized using ESI mass-spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, spectroscopic methods, and elemental analysis. These new bismacrocyclic systems were compared with the respective mono- and bismacrocyclic and [2]catenane homonuclear complexes. Interactions between the metal centers were monitored by magnetic and electrochemical measurements.