Superabsorbent hydrogel based on sulfonated-starch for improving water and saline absorbency.

The agriculture sectors in many developing countries have been suffering from water shortage and decreasing crop yields. Thus, an increasing interest has been emerged to develop much-needed solutions for a more sustainable management of water resources. Agricultural hydrogel that absorbs many times of its weight in water has been used to distribute into dry regions in order to improve the soil's ability to absorb and retain water. Here, amphoteric superabsorbent hydrogel is prepared by indirect method based on anionic starch bearing sulfonate groups. Anionic starch derivatives were graft-polymerized with acrylonitrile (AN) and hydrolyzed by alkaline by which nitrile groups were converted to hydrophilic functional groups. The hydrolyzed sodium starch sulfate-g-polyacrylonitrile (HSSS-g-PAN) copolymer exhibited improved water and saline absorbencies compared to that of native starch-based hydrogel. The co-polymerization was conducted for 60min polymerization time, 0.75% (wt/wt) ammonium persulfate (APS) associated with sodium bisulfite, SBS, (50% (wt/wt) of APS), 65°C for polymerization temperature and double molar ratio of acrylonitrile to the starch derivatives. The hydrogel based on the sulfonated starch derivatives 1 and 2 showed superior water absorbency for both distilled (250% and 190% respectively) and saline (90% and 70%) solutions over that of the native starch.

Curcumin nanoparticles loaded hydrogels protects against aflatoxin B1-induced genotoxicity in rat liver.

The current study aimed to evaluate the protective role of curcumin nanoparticles loaded hydrogels (Cur-NPs-Hgs) against AFB1-induced genotoxicity in rat liver. Animals were divided into 7 treatment groups and treated orally for 3 weeks as follow: the control group, the group treated with Hgs alone (0.5 ml/rat), the groups treated with low or high dose of Cur-NPs-Hgs (100 or 200 mg/kg b.w), the group treated with AFB1 (0.125 mg/kg b.w) and the groups treated with AFB1 plus the low or high dose of Cur-NPs-Hgs. Blood ant liver samples were collected for different biochemical, genetical, histological and histochemical analysis. The results revealed that the prepared Cur-NPs have nearly spherical shape with average size of 140 ± 20 nm and negative zeta potential value of 30.7 ± 2.57 mV. The in vivo results showed that treatment with AFB1 decreased the body weight accompanied biochemical, genotoxicity and histological disturbances. The combined treatment with AFB1 and Cur-Nps-Hgs at the two tested doses succeeded to induce a significant protection against AFB1. It could be concluded that Cur-NPs-Hgs is a promise candidate to protect against AFB1-induce liver damage in the high incidence area. Moreover, Hgs are excellent candidates as drug delivery system.

Enhancement of flame retardancy and water repellency properties of cotton fabrics using silanol based nano composites.

Environmental concerns related to fluorinated and organophosphorus compounds led to a consideration of the methods for imparting flame retardancy and water/oil repellency to textiles. A simple and facile method for fabricating the cotton fabric with superhydrophobicity and flame retardancy is described in the present work. Complex coating with amino-functionalized silica nano-particles on epoxy-functionalized cotton accompanied with ZnO nano-particles coating are carried out. In This context, new preparation techniques were used to prepare both aminated silica and ZnO nano-particles. The particle size was investigated using Transition Electron Microscope (TEM) and the chemical structure was investigated using FT-IR analysis and other analytical techniques. Cotton was functionalized with epoxy and carboxyl via grafting cotton with nano-emulsion consisted of mixture of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and acrylic acid (AA), and then treated for functional finishing through conventional pad-dry-cure method. The treated fabrics showed good water repellency and excellent flame retardant properties as determined by the standard test methods.