Amphiphilic microgels of different composition based on the hydrophilic, pH-responsive acrylic acid (AA) and the hydrophobic, non-ionic n-butyl acrylate (BuA) were synthesised using a lab-on-a-chip device. Hydrophobic droplets were generated via a microfluidic platform that contained a protected form of AA, BuA, the hydrophobic crosslinker, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and a free rad...

Water conformation around hydrophobic side chains of four amino acids (glycine, L-alanine, L-aminobutyric acid, and L-norvaline) was investigated via changes in complex dielectric constant in the terahertz (THz) region. Each of these amino acids has the same hydrophilic backbone, with successive additions of hydrophobic straight methylene groups (-CH2-) to the side chain. Changes in the degree ...

All the synthetic detergents and bile salts I have tried denature proteins such as hemoglobin and egg albumin at the isoelectric point 1 and keep the denatured isoelectric protein in solution. Some detergents in sufficiently high concentration can prevent the precipitation of denatured protein by trichloracetic acid, tungstic acid, and acid ferric sulfate. In fact, the origin of the present inv...

BACKGROUND Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is a common long-term complication of cataract surgery. Intraocular lens design and material have been implicated in influencing the development of PCO. This study evaluated the association of hydrophobic and hydrophilic intraocular lenses on preventing PCO. METHODS Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched until Au...

Efforts to understand and predict the role of different organic fractions in the fouling of low-pressure membranes are presented. Preliminary experiments with an experimental apparatus that incorporates automatic backwashing and filtration over several days has shown that microfiltration (MF) of the hydrophilic fractions leads to rapid flux decline and the formation of a cake or gel layer, whil...

A new and general design strategy is presented for amphiphilic block copolymers whose micellar aggregates can be dissociated by light. A diblock copolymer composed of hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and a hydrophobic polymethacrylate bearing pyrene pendant groups (PPy) was synthesized using ATRP. Upon UV light irradiation of polymer micellar solutions, the photosolvolysis of pyrene moiet...

In aquatic systems, dissolved organic matter (DOM) constitutes a key component of the carbon cycle controlling the transport, speciation, bioavailability and toxicity of trace metals. In this work, we study the spatio-temporal variability of the MO in terms of both quality and quantity from upstream to downstream the Parisian conurbation. Urban discharges which are the main source of allochthon...

Surfactants are amphiphilic compounds that have a molecular structure containing both a hydrophilic (water loving) and a hydrophobic (water hating) region. The hydrophobic region is usually a long chain aliphatic hydrocarbon, whereas the hydrophilic portion can be composed of an ionic or non-ionic polar group. The physical nature of these molecules bestows the ability to reduce surface tension ...