Preparation, characterization and dynamical mechanical properties of dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (DIONPs).

Dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (DIONPs) with appropriate surface chemistry exhibit many interesting properties that can be exploited in a variety of biomedical applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast enhancement, tissue repair, hyperthermia, drug delivery and in cell separation. This paper reports the experimental detail for preparation, characterization and investigation of thermal and dynamical mechanical characteristics of the dextran-coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles. In our work, DIONPs were prepared in a 1:2 ratio of Fe(II) and Fe(III) salt in the HCl solution with NaOH at given temperature. The obtained dextran-coated iron-oxide nanoparticles structure-property correlation was characterized by spectroscopic methods; attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and XRD. Coating dextran on the iron-oxide proof of important peaks can be seen from the ATR-FTIR. Dramatic crystallinity increment can be observed from the XRD pattern of the iron-oxide dextran nanoparticles. The thermal analysis was examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Dynamical mechanical properties of dextran nanoparticles were analysed by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Thermal stability of the iron oxide dextran nanoparticles is higher than that of the dextran.

Studies of miscibility and specific interactions of antitumor-active anhydride copolymer and poly(ethylene glycol) blends.

The blending of polymers is of great interest, since the modification gives rise to diverse physical properties with the functionality of a polymer, without synthesis. Water-soluble antitumor-active poly(maleic anhydride-alt-acrylic acid) poly(MA-alt-AA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) blends were prepared by casting, and compatible properties were investigated by dilute solution viscometry. Viscosity measurements were made on ternary systems of polymer (1)/polymer (2)/solvent (H2O) and p-dioxane, at different concentrations of PEG and poly(MA-alt-AA). The interaction parameters Δß, µ, Δk, Δb, ß and α, which have been proposed, have been obtained using the viscosity data, to probe the miscibility of the polymer blends. The solid blends prepared were characterized with ATR-FTIR, (1)H-NMR, DTA and TGA.

Synthesis and swelling peculiarities of new hydrogels based on the macromolecular reaction of anhydride copolymers with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane.

This work describes the synthesis and macromolecular reactions of maleic anhydride (MA)-acrylamide (AAm) binary and MA-vinyl acetate (VA)- AAm ternary reactive copolymers with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) as a polyfunctional crosslinker. Swelling parameters such as the start-time of the hydrogel-formation, initial rate of swelling, swelling rate constant, equilibrium swelling, and equilibrium water content (EWC) are determined for polymers/APTS/water systems with certain copolymer/crosslinker ratios (1.4/1 and 9/1). The formation of a hyperbranched network structure by the fragmentation of the side-chain reactive groups in the systems studied has also been confirmed by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) method.