Toward Spontaneous Neuronal Differentiation of SH-SY5Y Cells Using Novel Three-Dimensional Electropolymerized Conductive Scaffolds.

Neuroblastoma-derived SH-SY5Y cells have become an excellent model for nervous system regeneration to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Many approaches achieved a mature population of derived neurons in in vitro plates. However, the importance of the third dimension in tissue regeneration has become indispensable to achieve a potential implant to replace the damaged tissue. Therefore, we have prepared porous 3D structures composed uniquely of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) that show great potential in the tridimensional differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells into mature neurons. The scaffolds have been manufactured through electropolymerization by applying 1.2 V in a three-electrode cell using a template of sucrose/CNT as a working electrode. By this method, PEDOT/CNT 3D scaffolds were obtained with homogeneous porosities and high conductivity. In vitro analyses showed that an excellent biocompatibility of the scaffold and the presence of high amount of ß-tubulin class III and MAP-II target proteins that mainly expresses in neurons, suggesting the differentiation into neuronal cells already after a week of incubation.

Catechol End-Functionalized Polylactide by Organocatalyzed Ring-Opening Polymerization.

There is a great interest in incorporating catechol moieties into polymers in a controlled manner due to their interesting properties, such as the promotion of adhesion, redox activity or bioactivity. One possibility is to incorporate the catechol as end-group in a polymer chain using a functional initiator by means of controlled polymerization strategies. Nevertheless, the instability of catechol moieties under oxygen and basic pH requires tedious protection and deprotection steps to perform the polymerization in a controlled fashion. In the present work, we explore the organocatalyzed synthesis of catechol end-functional, semi-telechelic polylactide (PLLA) using non-protected dopamine, catechol molecule containing a primary amine, as initiator. NMR and SEC-IR results showed that in the presence of a weak organic base such as triethylamine, the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide takes place in a controlled manner without need of protecting the cathechol units. To further confirm the end-group fidelity the catechol containing PLLA was characterized by Cyclic Voltammetry and MALDI-TOF confirming the absence of side reaction during the polymerization. In order to exploit the potential of catechol moieties, catechol end-group of PLLA was oxidized to quinone and further reacted with aliphatic amines. In addition, we also confirmed the ability of catechol functionalized PLLA to reduce metal ions to metal nanoparticles to obtain well distributed silver nanoparticles. It is expected that this new route of preparing catechol-PLLA polymers without protection will increase the accessibility of catechol containing biodegradable polymers by ROP.

Covalent-Bonded Reduced Graphene Oxide-Fluorescein Complex as a Substrate for Extrinsic SERS Measurements.

When graphene is used as SERS substrates, it contributes to the chemical mechanism (CM) of enhancement of Raman signal, owing to which the detection limit is very low (lower than mM content of probe molecules). The CM of enhancement depends largely on the interactions between the substrate and the probe molecules. Therefore, in this work, we have investigated the possibility of increasing the SERS activity of graphene by improving the interaction between the probe molecule and the graphene substrate by establishing exclusively strong covalent bonding between them. Fluorescein (Fl) was selected as a probe molecule because it is one of the most commonly used fluorophore in bioscience. As a graphene substrate, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) platelets were used. In addition, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were added onto the hybrids to further increase the enhancement by electromagnetic mechanism. Highly enhanced Raman signal of Fl onto neat rGO was achieved for micromolar concentration of the probe molecules. This was attributed to the covalent bonding between them, which introduced hole doping to rGO, decreasing the Fermi level of rGO and bringing it more closely to the LUMO of Fl. This induces aligning of their energy levels, resulting in higher contribution of the nonresonance effect to the charge transfer mechanism of enhancement, which, in this case, occurred intramolecularly. When AgNPs were added onto the rGO substrate, the expected enhancement performance was not observed. On the one hand, this was attributed to small size (∼20 nm) of AgNPs and lack of aggregates and, on the other, due to the unusually high contribution of CM determined.

Single-Ion Block Copoly(ionic liquid)s as Electrolytes for All-Solid State Lithium Batteries.

Polymer electrolytes have been proposed as replacement for conventional liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their intrinsic enhanced safety. Nevertheless, the power delivery of these materials is limited by the concentration gradient of the lithium salt. Single-ion conducting polyelectrolytes represent the ideal solution since their nature prevents polarization phenomena. Herein, the preparation of a new family of single-ion conducting block copolymer polyelectrolytes via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization technique is reported. These copolymers comprise poly(lithium 1-[3-(methacryloyloxy)propylsulfonyl]-1-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate blocks. The obtained polyelectrolytes show low Tg values in the range of -61 to 0.6 °C, comparatively high ionic conductivity (up to 2.3 × 10(-6) and 1.2 × 10(-5) S cm(-1) at 25 and 55 °C, respectively), wide electrochemical stability (up to 4.5 V versus Li(+)/Li), and a lithium-ion transference number close to unity (0.83). Owing to the combination of all mentioned properties, the prepared polymer materials were used as solid polyelectrolytes and as binders in the elaboration of lithium-metal battery prototypes with high charge/discharge efficiency and excellent specific capacity (up to 130 mAh g(-1)) at C/15 rate.

An investigation into the nature and potential of in-situ surfactants for low energy miniemulsification.

HYPOTHESIS: It has been reported that surfactants generated in-situ are more efficient than their preformed analogues in preparation of miniemulsions for application in miniemulsion polymerization but conflicting experimental evidence exists over their use. Herein, the potential of preparing miniemulsions using in-situ generated surfactants is evaluated using KOH/oleic acid as a model system. EXPERIMENTS: The kinetics of miniemulsification using either preformed or in-situ generated potassium oleate were evaluated by monitoring the evolution of droplet size, pH and conductivity during miniemulsification using sonication. Subsequently, the kinetics of surfactant adsorption to the monomer/water interface were studied using dynamic interfacial tension measurements. Finally, the ability of in-situ generated potassium oleate to produce miniemulsions under low shear was evaluated under a range of conditions. FINDINGS: No difference in the evolution of droplet size, pH or conductivity was observed between the two surfactant systems when sonication was applied. Dynamic interfacial tension measurements showed that using in-situ generated potassium oleate, interfacial tension is significantly lower initially, but at long times the two surfactant systems reach similar values. Low shear emulsification by in-situ generated potassium oleate resulted in a bimodal droplet distribution. Only at very low oil contents with high surfactant concentration is the number of nanometer sized droplets large enough to account for a miniemulsion polymerization mechanism.

Synthesis of 2-(selenophen-2-yl)pyrroles and their electropolymerization to electrochromic nanofilms.

Bridging pyrrole and selenophene chemistries: Molecular assemblies have been developed that allow scrutiny of the electronic communication between pyrrole and selenophene nuclei. Divergent syntheses of 2-(selenophen-2-yl)pyrroles and their N-vinyl derivatives from available 2-acylselenophenes and acetylenes in a one-pot procedure have been devised (see scheme), which provide access to these exotic heterocyclic ensembles.The divergent syntheses of 2-(selenophen-2-yl)pyrroles and their N-vinyl derivatives from available 2-acylselenophenes and acetylenes in a one-pot procedure make these exotic heterocyclic ensembles accessible. Now we face a potentially vast area for exploration with a great diversity of far-reaching consequences including conducting electrochromic polymers with repeating of pyrrole and selenophene units (emerging rivalry for polypyrroles and polyselenophenes), the synthesis of functionalized pyrrole-selenophene assembles for advanced materials, biochemistry and medicine, exciting models for theory of polymer conductivity.