Inclusion-Interaction Assembly Strategy for Constructing pH/Redox Responsive Micelles for Controlled Release of 6-Mercaptopurine

An inclusion-interaction assembly strategy was used to construct novel pH/redox responsive core-shell micelles with hydrophobic drug as the core and hydrophilic polymer as the shell. At first, a dimer of hydrophobic drug 6-mercaptopurine and a hydrophilic β-CD grafted carboxymethyl chitosan were synthesized. Then, a novel amphiphilic inclusion complex was prepared with the dimer being partially embedded into the cavity of β-CD moiety. It self-assembled into pH/redox responsive core-shell micelles in distilled water. TEM confirmed that the micelles possessed a spherical core-shell configuration with a mean size of about 160 nm. DLS showed that the micelles were stable in aqueous solution. Their particle diameters altered with pH values as well as glutathione (GSH) concentrations and respectively attained a maximum value at pH 6.0 and 20 mM GSH. Release profiles of 6-mercaptopurine showed a low release rate (about 27 wt% after 48 h) in pH 7.4 medium with 10 μM GSH, and a marked increase (over 88 wt% after 48 h) in pH 5.0 medium with 20 mM GSH. In vitro cytotoxicity test showed that the micelles had a dose-dependent toxicity for HeLa cells, indicating a great potential for controlled release of 6-mercaptopurine in tumor cells.

Understanding enhancing mechanism of Pr_(6)O_(11) and Pr(OH)_(3) in methanol electrooxidation

The presence of oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups are both favorable for the methanol electrooxidation on Pt-based catalysts.Understanding and differentiating the enhancing mechanism between oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups for high activity of Pt catalysts in methanol oxidation reaction(MOR)is essential but still challenging.Herein,we developed two kinds of co-catalyst for Pt/CNTs,Pr_(6)O_(11)is rich in oxygen vacancies but contains substantially no hydroxyl groups,while Pr(OH)_(3) possesses abundant hydroxyl groups without oxygen vacancies.After a seque nce of designed experiments,it can be found that both oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups can improve the performance of Pt/CNTs electrocatalysts,but the enhancing mechanism and improving degree of oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups for the MOR are different.Since the oxygen vacancies are more conducive to increasing the intrinsic activity of the Pt catalyst,and the hydroxyl groups play a decisive role in dehydrogenation and deproto nation of methanol,the co-catalysts with both oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups mixed with Pt/CNTs have higher catalytic performance.Therefore,hydroxyl-rich Pr_(6)O_(11)·xH_(2)O was prepared and used as MOR electrocatalyst after mixed with Pt/CNTs.Benefiting from the synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies and hydroxyl groups,the Pr_(6)O_(11)·xH_(2)O/Pt/CNTs shows a high peak current density of 741 mA/mg,which is three times higher than that of Pt/CNTs.These new discoveries serve as a promising strategy for the rational design of MOR catalysts with low cost and high activity.