Retention of the original LLC structure in a cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogel with reinforcement from a silica network.

Cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels with uniformly controlled nanoporous structures templated from hexagonal lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) represent separation membrane materials with potentially high permeability and selectivity due to their high pore density and narrow pore size distribution. However, retaining LLC templated nanostructures is a challenge as the polymer gels are not strong enough to sustain the surface tension during the drying process. In the current study, cross-linked PEGDA gels were reinforced with a silica network synthesized via an in situ sol-gel method, which assists in the retention of the hexagonal LLC structure.

Development of drug-loaded chitosan-vanillin nanoparticles and its cytotoxicity against HT-29 cells.

Chitosan as a natural polysaccharide derived from chitin of arthropods like shrimp and crab, attracts much interest due to its inherent properties, especially for application in biomedical materials. Presently, biodegradable and biocompatible chitosan nanoparticles are attractive for drug delivery. However, some physicochemical characteristics of chitosan nanoparticles still need to be further improved in practice.

Targeted delivery of 5-fluorouracil to HT-29 cells using high efficient folic acid-conjugated nanoparticles.

The incorporation of a high percentage of targeting molecules into drug delivery system is one of the important methods for improving efficacy of targeting therapeutic drugs to cancer cells. PLGA-based drug delivery carriers with folic acid (FA) as targeting molecule have a low targeting efficiency due to a low FA conjugation ratio. In this work, we fabricated a FA-conjugated PLGA system using a crosslinker 1, 3-diaminopropane and have achieved a high conjugation ratio of 46.

Synthesis and characterization of folate conjugated chitosan and cellular uptake of its nanoparticles in HT-29 cells.

Folate-chitosan (FA-CS) conjugates synthesized by coupling FA with CS render new and improved functions because the original properties of CS are maintained and the targeting ligand of FA is incorporated. In this work, FA-CS conjugates were synthesized based on chemical linking of carboxylic group of FA with amino group of CS as confirmed by Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR). FA-CS conjugates displayed less crystal nature when compared to CS.

Self-assembled natural rubber/silica nanocomposites: Its preparation and characterization.

A novel natural rubber/silica (NR/SiO) nanocomposite is developed by combining self-assembly and latex-compounding techniques. The results show that the SiO nanoparticles are homogenously distributed throughout NR matrix as nano-clusters with an average size ranged from 60 to 150 nm when the SiO loading is less than 6.5 wt%.

Poly(vinyl alcohol)/silica nanocomposites: morphology and thermal degradation kinetics.

The morphology of self-assembled poly(vinyl alcohol)/silica (PVA/SiO2) nanocomposites is investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is found that the SiO2 nanoparticles are homogenously distributed throughout the PVA matrix in a form of spherical nano-cluster. The average size of the SiO2 clusters is below 50 nm at the low contents (SiO2 < or =5 5 wt%), while particle aggregations are clearly observed and their average size markedly increases to 110 nm when 10 wt% SiO2 is loaded.

Thermal degradation kinetics and morphology of natural rubber/silica nanocomposites.

A novel natural rubber/silica (NR/SiO2) nanocomposite with a SiO2 loading of 4 wt% is developed by incorporating latex compounding with self-assembly techniques. The SiO2 nanoparticles are homogenously distributed throughout the NR matrix as spherical nano-clusters with an average size of 75 nm. In comparison with the host NR, the thermal resistance of the nanocomposite is significantly improved.