PEGylation of Terminal Ligands as a Route to Decrease the Toxicity of Radiocontrast Re-Clusters.

The development of novel radiocontrast agents, mainly used for the visualization of blood vessels, is still an emerging task due to the variety of side effects of conventional X-ray contrast media. Recently, we have shown that octahedral chalcogenide rhenium clusters with phosphine ligands-NaH[{ReQ}(P(CHCOO))] (Q = S, Se)-can be considered as promising X-ray contrast agents if their relatively high toxicity related to the high charge of the complexes can be overcome. To address this issue, we propose one of the most widely used methods for tuning the properties of proteins and peptides-PEGylation (PEG is polyethylene glycol).

Carborane-Containing Folic Acid -Amides: Synthesis and In Vitro Evaluation of Novel Promising Agents for Boron Delivery to Tumour Cells.

The design of highly selective low-toxic, low-molecular weight agents for boron delivery to tumour cells is of decisive importance for the development of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), a modern efficient combined method for cancer treatment. In this work, we developed a simple method for the preparation of new - and -carborane-containing folic acid -amides containing 18-20 boron atoms per molecule. Folic acid derivatives containing -carborane residues were characterised by high water solubility, low cytotoxicity, and demonstrated a good ability to deliver boron to tumour cells in in vitro experiments (up to 7.

Biological Studies of New Implant Materials Based on Carbon and Polymer Carriers with Film Heterostructures Containing Noble Metals.

This paper presents pioneering results on the evaluation of noble metal film hetero-structures to improve some functional characteristics of carbon-based implant materials: carbon-composite material (CCM) and carbon-fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CFR-PEEK). Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was successfully applied to the deposition of Ir, Pt, and PtIr films on these carriers. A noble metal layer as thin as 1 µm provided clear X-ray imaging of 1−2.

History and recent advances in elemental analysis of germanium-based functional materials.

This article is devoted to a review of studies on the determination of trace elements in germanium and germanium dioxide. For this purpose, methods both with and without preliminary matrix separation procedure have been developed and applied. The advantage of methods without a matrix separation procedure is simple and fast sample preparation, since it does not require specific devices or installations.