A bead-and-spring model has been used to simulate the behavior of thermoresponsive asymmetric diblock amphiphilic copolymers with aid of Monte Carlo simulations. The alteration of the thermodynamic conditions was mimicked by using a Lennard-Jones potential, which was related to the measured temperatures by comparison with experimental data for aqueous solutions of two sets of diblock copolymers...

As chitosan’s solubility represents a drawback for further applications, the functionalization of chitosan became attractive by a variety of chemical methods. The present study deals with the chemical modification of chitosan by using click chemistry technique as versatile tool being easy to perform with high yields and no additional by products. The approach used herein was to attach a respons...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), a known angiogenic factor, may provide a potential strategy for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI), but it is limited by a relatively short half-life. Dex-PCL-HEMA/PNIPAAm hydrogel provides a reservoir for the controlled release of growth factors. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of bFGF incorporated into a Dex-PCL-HEMA/PNI...

In this study, varying concentrations of linear pNIPAAM have been incorporated for the first time into a thermo-responsive polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) hydrogel, namely tributyl-hexyl phosphonium 3-sulfopropylacrylate (P-SPA), to produce semi-interpenetrating polymer networks. The thermal properties of the resulting hydrogels have been investigated along with their thermo-induced shrinking and ...

The efficacy of cell-based therapy depends on the function and survival of transplanted cells, which have been suggested to be enhanced by spheroid formation. However, few attempts at spheroid generation from insulin-secreting cells, which may be used to treat type 1 diabetes, have been reported. We therefore developed spheroids from the mouse insulinoma cell line NIT-1 by using polydimethylsil...

HYPOTHESIS Previous efforts to formulate smart foams composed of mixtures of PNIPAAm, a thermoresponsive uncharged polymer, and surfactants have failed because the surfactant displaces the PNIPAAm from the liquid-air interface, removing the thermal responsiveness. We hypothesized that thermoresponsive foams could be formulated with such a mixture if a charged surfactant were used in order to an...

The molecular interactions between the component networks in poly(methacrylic acid)/poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PMAA/PNIPAAm) interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were investigated using attenuated total reflectance (ATR)Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy. Hydrogen-bond formation was noted between the carboxyl groups of PMAA and the amide groups of PNIPAAm. The ATR-FTIR results show...

We developed a novel two-dimensional (2-D) crystalline colloidal array photonic crystal sensing material for the visual detection of amphiphilic molecules in water. A close-packed polystyrene 2-D array monolayer was embedded in a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-based hydrogel film. These 2-D photonic crystals placed on a mirror show intense diffraction that enables them to be used for vis...

BACKGROUND Amphiphilic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PNiPAAm-b-PCL) copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization to form thermosensitive micelles as nanocarriers for bioimaging and carboplatin delivery. RESULTS The critical micelle concentration increased from 1.8 to 3.5 mg/l following the decrease of the PNiPAAm chain length. The copolymers revealed a ...

Stimuli-responsive polymer microgels can be produced with exquisite control using droplet microfluidics; however, in existing methods, the droplet templating is strongly coupled to the material synthesis, because droplet solidification usually occurs through rapid polymerization immediately after the microfluidic droplet formation. This circumstance limits independent control of the material pr...