Hydrophobic modification of sodium alginate and its application in drug controlled release.

Sodium alginate was hydrophobically modified by coupling of polybutyl methacrylate onto the alginate. The polybutyl methacrylate was previously prepared through polymerization of butyl methacrylate in the presence of 2-amino-ethanethiol as a chain transfer agent. The structure of the product was characterized by Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)HNMR) and thermogravimetry. The result of fluorescence analysis showed that the hydrophobicity of the modified alginate was obviously increased. The modified alginate conjugate was used for immobilization of bovine serum albumin in the presence of calcium chloride. In addition, the release behavior of the drug-loaded alginate in deionized water and Tris-HCl buffer solution (pH 7.2) was investigated. It was found that the modified sodium alginate possessed prolonged release behavior compared to unmodified sodium alginate, and it had potential application in controlled release as a drug carrier.

Preparation and pH controlled release of polyelectrolyte complex of poly(L-malic acid-co-D,L-lactic acid) and chitosan.

The copolymer of poly(L-malic acid-co-D,L-lactic acid) (PML) was synthesized through a direct polycondensation of L-malic acid (MA) and D,L-lactic acid (LA). Then, a new polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based on the complexation between the copolymer (PML) and chitosan (CS) was prepared. The PEC formed stable nano particles in aqueous solutions with pH 3-5, and the nano particles had the diameters in a range of 316-590 nm (varied with the components of PML and CS). Doxorubicin (DOX) as a model drug was loaded on the nano particles through the physical adsorption and complexation, and part of DOX formed the secondary particles by self-aggregation. The high drug loading efficiency (16.5%) and the sustained release patterns in acidic media were observed, and the release accelerated in alkaline solutions. The nano particles could be potentially applied as pH sensitive drug vehicles for controlled release.

Syntheses of silsesquioxane (POSS)-based inorganic/organic hybrid and the application in reinforcement for an epoxy resin.

A new inorganic/organic hybrid material containing silsesquioxane was prepared by the reaction of caged octa (aminopropyl silsesquioxane) (POSS-NH(2)) with n-butyl glycidyl ether (nBGE) and 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDGE). The copolymers of POSS, nBGE, and BDGE could be obtained with varied feed ratio of POSS-NH(2), nBGE, and BDGE in the preparation. The hybrid material was added into an epoxy resin (E51) for enhancing the toughening and thermal properties of the epoxy resin. The results showed that the toughening and the thermal properties of the cured epoxy resin were greatly improved by the addition of the hybrid. The enhancement was ascribed to nano-scale effect of the POSS structure and the formation of anchor structure in the cured network. The investigation of kinetics for the curing process of the hybrid-modified epoxy resin revealed that two kinds of curing reactions occurred in different temperature ranges. They were attributed to the reactions between amino groups of the curing agent with epoxy groups of E51 and with residue epoxy groups in the hybrid. The reacting activation energies were calculated based on Kissinger's and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa's methods, respectively.