Continuous Flow Synthesis of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Enabling Rapid Screening of Synthesis-Structure-Property Relationships.

An adjustable and scalable method for the continuous flow synthesis of cupric oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs), targetted the reduction of their activity to synthetic biomembranes to inform the fabrication of nanoparticles (NPs) with reduced toxicity for commercial applications. By manipulating key factors; temperature, residence time, and the ratio of precursor to reductant, precise control over the morphology of CuO NPs is achieved with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirming the formation of needle-shaped CuO NPs. One-variable-at-a-time studies reveal a relationship between the synthesis conditions and the characteristics of the resultant NPs, with CuO NPs varying controllably between 10-50 nanometres in length and 4-10 nanometres in width.

Heterogeneous Rate Constant for Amorphous Silica Nanoparticle Adsorption on Phospholipid Monolayers.

The interaction of amorphous silica nanoparticles with phospholipid monolayers and bilayers has received a great deal of interest in recent years and is of importance for assessing potential cellular toxicity of such species, whether natural or synthesized for the purpose of nanomedical drug delivery and other applications. This present communication studies the rate of silica nanoparticle adsorption on to phospholipid monolayers in order to extract a heterogeneous rate constant from the data. This rate constant relates to the initial rate of growth of an adsorbed layer of nanoparticles as SiO on a unit area of the monolayer surface from unit concentration in dispersion.

Experimental Modeling of Flavonoid-Biomembrane Interactions.

Nonspecific interactions of flavonoids with lipids can alter the membrane's features (e.g., thickness and fluctuations) as well as influence their therapeutic potentials.

Direct characterization of fluid lipid assemblies on mercury in electric fields.

Phospholipid monolayers on mercury (Hg) surfaces have received substantial and extensive scientific interest not only because of their use as a biomembrane model but also for their application as a successful toxicity-sensing element. The monolayers show characteristic and very reproducible phase transitions manifest as consecutive voltammetric peaks in response to applied transverse electric fields. Unfortunately, apart from the results of simulation studies, there is a lack of data on the lipid phase structures to help interpret these voltammetric peaks.