The treatment of brain diseases is hindered by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) preventing most drugs from entering the brain. Focused ultrasound (FUS) with microbubbles can open the BBB safely and reversibly. Systemic drug injection might induce toxicity, but encapsulation into nanoparticles reduces accumulation in normal tissue. Here we used a novel platform based on poly(2-ethyl-butyl cyanoacry...

Cyanoacrylate glues are quick setting materials which rapidly cure to hard, clear glassy resins. Its synthesis too has not been reported in the open literature so far. Synthetic methods, which engage esterification of cyanoacetic acid with a preferred alcohol, polymerization by knoevenagel condensation and successive depolymerization, are applied to the synthesis of lower membered alkyl cyanoac...

Post-polymerization CuAAC reactions are used to ‘click’ stimuli-cleavable triazole end-caps onto self-immolative poly(ethyl glyoxylate).

We present a detailed characterization of fibronectin (FN) adsorption and cell adhesion on poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA) and poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA), two polymers with very similar physicochemical properties and chemical structure, which differ in one single methyl group in the lateral chain of the polymer. The globular solution conformation of FN was retained following adsorption onto PMA, wh...

The moisture uptake of several water-soluble polymers at different humidities was investigated with a thermal gravimetric analyzer equipped with a controlled humidity chamber. The water sorption of poly(acrylic acid) sodium salt, poly(ethylene glycol) and silica, which are known as super absorbers, were examined. In addition, various hydrophilic polymeric materials were selected according to th...

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the synthesis of three amphiphilic block copolymer systems containing poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blocks. The polymer systems were developed for use in biomedical applications. The first of these is a series of poly(ethylene oxide-b-oxazoline) (PEO-b-POX) diblock copolymers for use in the progress towards novel nonviral gene transfer vectors. Poly...

Direct chemical sensing in liquid environments using polymer-guided shear horizontal surface acoustic wave sensor platforms on 36 degrees rotated Y-cut LiTaO3 is investigated. Design considerations for optimizing these devices for liquid-phase detection are systematically explored. Two different sensor geometries are experimentally and theoretically analyzed. Dual delay line devices are used wi...

Novel pH-sensitive gel-forming pentablock copolymers based on commercially available Pluronic (poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide), PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO) triblock copolymers and cationic diblock copolymers based on polyethylene glycol) methyl ether (PEGME) were synthesized by oxyanionic polymerization. Polymerization of the cationic moiety, poly((diethylamino)-ethyl m...