Supramolecular Design Strategy of a Water-Soluble Diphenylguanidine-Cyclodextrin Polymer Inclusion Complex.

Diphenylguanidine (DPG) is a widely used secondary accelerator for the vulcanization of natural rubber (NR) latex. However, its low water solubility and high toxicity limit its use in high-end NR products. In this study, a water-soluble inclusion complex of DPG and a ß-cyclodextrin polymer (ß-CDP), termed DPG-ß-CDP, was prepared through supramolecular interactions and characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H NMR, scanning electron microscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy techniques. In comparison with that of DPG, the water solubility of DPG-ß-CDP was greatly enhanced because of the water-soluble host molecule. The molar ratio of DPG to the CD unit in ß-CDP was determined to be 1:1. At 25 °C, the binding constant of DPG-ß-CDP was found to be 9.2 × 105 L/mol by UV-vis spectroscopy. The proposed method for forming inclusion complexes with high potential for use as water-soluble vulcanization accelerators is promising.

Wrap-bake-peel process for nanostructural transformation from beta-FeOOH nanorods to biocompatible iron oxide nanocapsules.

The thermal treatment of nanostructured materials to improve their properties generally results in undesirable aggregation and sintering. Here, we report on a novel wrap-bake-peel process, which involves silica coating, heat treatment and finally the removal of the silica layer, to transform the phases and structures of nanostructured materials while preserving their nanostructural characteristics. We demonstrate, as a proof-of-concept, the fabrication of water-dispersible and biocompatible hollow iron oxide nanocapsules by applying this wrap-bake-peel process to spindle-shaped akagenite (beta-FeOOH) nanoparticles. Depending on the heat treatment conditions, hollow nanocapsules of either haematite or magnetite were produced. The synthesized water-dispersible magnetite nanocapsules were successfully used not only as a drug-delivery vehicle, but also as a T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent. The current process is generally applicable, and was used to transform heterostructured FePt nanoparticles to high-temperature face-centred-tetragonal-phase FePt alloy nanocrystals.

Synthesis of monodisperse hollow carbon nanocapsules by using protective silica shells.

Monodisperse hollow carbon nanocapsules (<200 nm) with mesoporous shells were synthesized by coating their outer shells with silica to prevent aggregation during their high-temperature annealing. Monodispersed silica nanoparticles were used as starting materials and octadecyltrimethoxysilane (C18TMS) was used as a carbon source to create core-shell nanostructures. These core-shell nanoparticles were coated with silica on their outer shell to form a second shell layer. This outer silica shell prevented aggregation during calcination. The samples were characterized by TEM, SEM, dynamic light scattering (DLS), UV/Vis spectroscopy, and by using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The as-synthesized hollow carbon nanoparticles exhibited a high surface area (1123 m(2) g(-1)) and formed stable dispersions in water after the pegylation process. The drug-loading and drug-release properties of these hollow carbon nanocapsules were also investigated.