Methods to manipulate and visualize isolated DNA and oligonucleotide strands are important for investigation of their biophysics as well as their interactions with proteins. Herein, we report such a method by combining a block copolymer surface functionalization strategy with microfluidics. The copolymer poly(l-lysine-graft-polyethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) coated one surface of the microfluidic...

The dimensional stability and rheological properties of a series of comb-like copolymers of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAAm) and methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (mPEGMA), poly(NIPAAm-co-mPEGMA), with varying poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) graft densities and molecular weights were studied. The thermoresponsive character of the copolymer solutions was investigated by kinetic and equilibri...

Grafting method, through microwave radiation technique is very effective in terms of time consumption, cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness. Via this method, delignified Grewia optiva identified as a waste biomass, was graft copolymerized with methylmethacrylate (MMA) as an principal monomer in a binary mixture of ethyl methacrylate (EMA) and ethyl acrylate (EA) under microwave irr...

Casein is almost insoluble at around pH 4.6, which is its isoelectric point (pI). Grafting copolymer, casein-g-dextran, was prepared through the Amadori rearrangement of the Maillard reaction. The copolymer has a reversible pH sensitive property: micellization at the pI of casein forming a casein core and dextran shell structure and dissociation when pH differs from the pI. The micelles produce...

Arterial reconstructions with vein grafts fail more frequently than with arterial grafts. One of the causes of graft failure is damage due to overstretching of the graft wall. Overstretching is caused because the vein graft, which has a poorly developed medium, cannot withstand the arterial blood pressures. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether damage due to overstretching can be prevent...

Starch graft copolymers are expected to become increasingly important as industrial and consumer chemicals in a large variety of end uses. Therefore, a quick and accurate analytical characterization of the graft copolymer is desirable. Vinyl side chains from starch-vinyl graft copolymers have preViously been isolated by several methods. Brockway (1) hydrolyzed the starch moiety with 1 N HCl at ...

A new route to high-Tg, thermally stable polyimide foams has been developed. Foams were prepared by casting microphase-separated graft copolymers comprising a thermally stable main chain, polyimide, and a thermally labile graft, poly(α-methylstyrene). The copolymer compositions were designed so that the thermally labile block would be the dispersed phase. This can unzip to its monomer upon heat...

The throughput and efficiency of membrane separations make polymer filtration membranes an important resource for the pharmaceutical, food and wastewater treatment industries. Nanofiltration (NF) membranes fill an important niche between nonporous reverse osmosis membranes, which have comprehensive solute rejection and low solvent permeability, and porous sieving ultrafiltration membranes. Howe...

Battery safety has been a very important research area over the past decade. Commercially available lithium ion batteries employ low flash point (< 80 °C), flammable, and volatile organic electrolytes. These organic based electrolyte systems are viable at ambient temperatures, but require a cooling system to ensure that temperatures do not exceed 80 °C. These cooling systems tend to increase ba...

A new strategy is presented for the synthesis of graft copolymers using only the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). From a ROMP-derived main chain, pendant maleimide functional groups are converted into norbornene moieties via a Diels-Alder reaction with cyclopentadiene. The norbornene groups serve as sites of initiation, and subsequent ROMP from the main chain yields graft copolyme...