Ester-free thiol-ene dental restoratives--Part A: Resin development.

Objectives: To detail the development of ester-free thiol-ene dental resins with enhanced mechanical performance, limited potential for water uptake/leachables/degradation and low polymerization shrinkage stress.

Methods: Thiol-terminated oligomers were prepared via a thiol-Michael reaction and a bulky tetra-allyl monomer containing urethane linkages was synthesized. The experimental oligomers and/or monomers were photopolymerized using visible light activation.

Ester-free thiol-ene dental restoratives--Part B: Composite development.

Objectives: To assess the performance of thiol-ene dental composites based on selected ester-free thiol-ene formulations. Further, to point out the benefits/drawback of having a hydrolytically stable thiol-ene matrix within a glass filled composite.

Methods: Composite samples containing 50-65wt% of functionalized glass microparticles were prepared and photopolymerized in the presence of a suitable visible light photoinitiator.

Ester-free Thiol-X Resins: New Materials with Enhanced Mechanical Behavior and Solvent Resistance.

A series of thiol-Michael and radical thiol-ene network polymers were successfully prepared from ester-free as well as ester-containing monomer formulations. Polymerization reaction rates, dynamic mechanical analysis, and solvent resistance experiments were performed and compared between compositions with varied ester loading. The incorporation of ester-free alkyl thiol, vinyl sulfone and allylic monomers significantly improved the mechanical properties when compared with commercial, mercaptopropionate-based thiol-ene or thiol-Michael networks.

Spatially gradated hydrogel platform as a 3D engineered tumor microenvironment.

There is an acute need for biomaterial tools that recreate the heterogeneous brain-tumor microenvironment. A microfluidic mixing tool is reported to encapsulate glioblastoma multiforme cells within miniaturized gelatin hydrogels containing overlapping patterns of tumor-inspired matrix signals. This approach permits in situ analysis of glioma cells at the molecular and genomic level as well as the potential for clinical insight.

Regulation of glioma cell phenotype in 3D matrices by hyaluronic acid.

Human glioblastoma multiforme (hGBM) is the most common, aggressive, and deadly form of brain cancer. A major obstacle to understanding the impact of extracellular cues on glioblastoma invasion is the absence of model matrix systems able to replicate compositional and structural elements of the glioma mass as well as the surrounding brain tissue. Contact with a primary extracellular matrix component in the brain, hyaluronan, is believed to play a pivotal role in glioma cell invasion and malignancy.

Nuclear spin dependence of the reaction of H(3)+ with H2. II. Experimental measurements.

The nuclear spin dependence of the chemical reaction H(3)(+)+ H(2) → H(2) + H(3)(+) has been studied in a hollow cathode plasma cell. Multipass infrared direct absorption spectroscopy has been employed to monitor the populations of several low-energy rotational levels of ortho- and para-H(3)(+) (o-H(3)(+) and p-H(3)(+)) in hydrogenic plasmas of varying para-H(2) (p-H(2)) enrichment. The ratio of the rates of the proton hop (k(H)) and hydrogen exchange (k(E)) reactions α ≡ k(H)/k(E) is inferred from the observed p-H(3)(+) fraction as a function of p-H(2) fraction using steady-state chemical models.