Superparamagnetic Fe3O4SiO2 nanocomposites: enabling the tuning of both the iron oxide load and the size of the nanoparticles.

Using a water-in-oil microemulsion system, silica nanoparticles containing superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) crystals have been prepared and characterized. With this method, the loading of iron oxide crystals, the thickness of the silica shells, and the overall particle sizes are tunable. Moving from low to high water concentration, within the microemulsion region, resulted in a gradual shift from larger particles, ca.

Using optical tweezers for measuring the interaction forces between human bone cells and implant surfaces: System design and force calibration.

Optical tweezers were used to study the interaction and attachment of human bone cells to various types of medical implant materials. Ideally, the implant should facilitate cell attachment and promote migration of the progenitor cells in order to decrease the healing time. It is therefore of interest, in a controlled manner, to be able to monitor the cell adhesion process.

NMR studies of aggregation and hydration of surfactants containing amide bonds.

The consequences of including amide bonds into the structure of short-chain nonionic surfactants have been studied. Of particular interest were the possible effects of the hydrogen bonding ability of the amide group on the micellar shape. The aggregate structure and hydration of two different amide-containing surfactants, C7H15CO-NH-(CH2CH2O)4H and C7H15CO-(NH-C3H6-CO)2N(CH3)2, were investigated using NMR diffusometry (pulsed gradient spin echo NMR) as the main technique.

Influence of pH on the micelle-to-vesicle transition in aqueous mixtures of sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate with histidine.

Small unilamellar vesicles (approximately 100 nm in diameter) form spontaneously in aqueous mixtures of histidine and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate. By manipulating pH, a gradual transition from micelles to vesicles to bilayers to precipitate is observed. The self-assembly of vesicles occurs over a wide range of compositions when the solution pH is lower than 6.

Mixed solutions of an associating polymer with a cleavable surfactant.

Mixtures of hydrophobically modified hydroxyethyl cellulose (HMHEC) and alkali-sensitive cleavable betaine ester surfactants have been studied by viscometry, 1H NMR, absorbance measurements, and birefringence determinations. Before the hydrolysis, the surfactants behaved as conventional nondegradable surfactants in terms of the effect on the viscosity of increasing surfactant concentration. As the surfactants were hydrolyzed, systems with time-dependent viscosity were obtained.

Mixed micellar systems of cleavable surfactants.

Previous studies have shown that the alkaline hydrolysis of cleavable ester surfactants is strongly affected by aggregation. The alkaline hydrolysis of the cationic species decyl betainate (DB) is strongly enhanced by micellization, whereas the nonionic species tetra(ethylene glycol)mono-n-octanoate (TEO) is virtually protected when residing in aggregates. In the present work, mixtures of DB and TEO were studied at concentrations above the critical micelle concentration, and the rate of hydrolysis of each surfactant in the presence of the other was assessed.

Hydrolyzable nonionic surfactants: stability and physicochemical properties of surfactants containing carbonate, ester, and amide bonds.

A linear and a branched nonionic cleavable surfactants containing a carbonate bond have been prepared from tetra(ethylene glycol) and an alkylchloroformate. The stability of these carbonate surfactants was determined by investigating their hydrolysis and biodegradability characteristics. The hydrolysis was catalyzed by alkali or enzymes (esterase from porcine liver and lipases from Mucor miehei and Candida antarctica B) and was monitored using 1H NMR.

Spontaneous vesicle formation and phase behavior in mixtures of an anionic surfactant with imidazoline compounds.

Unexpected colloidal assemblies form in aqueous mixtures of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) with the following imidazoline compounds: 2,2'-azobis[2-(2-imidazolin-2-yl)propane] dihydrochloride (V-44, which is a commonly used free-radical initiator), 2,2'-tetramethylenedi-2-imidazoline (TMI), and the main recombination product (RP) from the decomposition of V-44. All of these imidazoline compounds act as hydrotropes. As the molar ratio of imidazoline to SDBS increases, a gradual transition from micelles to vesicles to bilayers to precipitate is observed.