Edaravone-loaded poly(amino acid) nanogel inhibits ferroptosis for neuroprotection in cerebral ischemia injury

Neurological injury caused by ischemic stroke is a major cause of permanent disability and death. The currently available neuroprotective drugs fail to achieve desired therapeutic efficacy mainly due to short circulation half-life and poor blood−brain barrier (BBB) permeability. For that, an edaravone-loaded pH/glutathione (pH/GSH) dual-responsive poly(amino acid) nanogel (NG/EDA) was developed to improve the neuroprotection of EDA. The nanogel was triggered by acidic and EDA-induced high-level GSH microenvironments, which enabled the selective and sustained release of EDA at the site of ischemic injury. NG/EDA exhibited a uniform sub-spherical morphology with a mean hydrodynamic diameter of 112.3 ± 8.2 nm. NG/EDA efficiently accumulated at the cerebral ischemic injury site of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) mice, showing an efficient BBB crossing feature. Notably, NG/EDA with 50 µM EDA significantly increased neuron survival (29.3%) following oxygen and glucose deprivation by inhibiting ferroptosis. In addition, administering NG/EDA for 7 d significantly reduced infarct volume to 22.2% ± 7.2% and decreased neurobehavioral scores from 9.0 ± 0.6 to 2.0 ± 0.8. Such a pH/GSH dual-responsive nanoplatform might provide a unique and promising modality for neuroprotection in ischemic stroke and other central nervous system diseases.

Poly(lactic acid)-aspirin microspheres prepared via the traditional and improved solvent evaporation methods and its application performances

Drug-loaded microspheres are significant for the development of modern pharmaceutical products. It is well known that the taken of aspirin for long-term increases the risk of serious gastrointestinal complications, therefore a controllable delivery of aspirin is of importance to lighten those side effects. In this work, poly(lactic acid)(PLA) was chosen as the carrier to prepare PLA-aspirin microspheres by using the traditional and the improved solvent evaporation methods. It was found that no matter which experimental condition was, the encapsulation efficiency of aspirin was higher by using the improved method than that of the traditional method. Specifically, when the concentration of polyvinyl alcohol = 1%(mass),the polymer concentration = 1:20, the oil/water rate = 1:2.5, PLA-aspirin microspheres were obtained via the improved method with a high yield of 82.83%(mass) and an encapsulation efficiency of 44.09%. PLAaspirin microspheres were then prepared continuously using the improved method, which further enhanced the encapsulation efficiency to 54.56%. Approximate 85% aspirin released from microspheres within 7 days. Obvious degradation which was represented by reduction on hardness was observed by soaking microspheres in PBS for 60 days. This work is of interest because it provides a continuous route to prepare PLA-aspirin microspheres continuously with a high drug encapsulation efficiency.

Redox active polymer metal chelates for use in flexible symmetrical supercapacitors:Cobalt-containing poly(acrylic acid)polymer electrolytes

The novel polymer metal chelate electrolytes(polychelates)were prepared by incorporation of cobalt sulfate(Co)into poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)host matrix.Quasi-solid state supercapacitor devices were fabricated using polychelates,PAA-Co X(X:3,5,7,and 10)where X represents the doping fraction(w/w)of Co in PAA.All polymer metal electrolytes were showed excellent bending-stretching properties,thermal stability and electrochemical durability with an optimum ionic conductivity of 3.15×10^(-4) S cm^(-1).Hierarchically porous activated carbon and nano-sized conductive carbon were used to form carbon composite symmetrical device electrodes.The electric double-layer capacitor(EDLC)and redox reactions of Co-incorporated polychelates at the interfaces of porous activated carbon provided an optimum specific capacitance of 341.33 F g^(-1) with a device of PAA-Co7,which is at least 15 times enhancement compared to the device of pristine PAA.The PAA-Co7 device also provided energy density of 21.25 Wh kg^(-1) at a power density of 117.69 W kg^(-1).A prolonged cyclic stability of the device exhibited superior capacitive performance after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles and the maintained 90%of its initial performance.In addition,the supercapacitor with a dimension of 1.5 cm×3 cm containing PAA-Co7 successfully operated the red-blue-green(RGB)LED light.

Poly-Acrylic Acid Derivatives as Diesel Flow Improver for Paraffin-Based Daqing Diesel

Since the diesel products from paraffin-based Daqing crude oil showed low sensitivity to certain commercial diesel pour point depressant （PPDs） that resulted from the high content of paraffin, certain poly-acrylic acid derivatives （PADE） with-COOR, -COOH,-CONHR, and -COO-NH3^＋R groups by molecular design on the mechanics of diesel; PPDs were synthesized and evaluated as cold flow improver for Daqing 0^# diesel in this paper. The pure PADE was superior to the commercial PPDs and displayed a substantial ability of wax crystals dispersion. There was a synergistic effect among the PADE and T1804 and secondary amine. The synergism clearly improved the low temperature performance of Daqing diesel products and could reduce the cold filter plugging point of 0^# diesel by 6-7 ℃.

CONFORMATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POLY(ACRYLIC ACID) AND POLY(METHACRYLIC ACID)

A full-relaxation optimization of molecule and the Dreiding force field are employed to obtain the geometry parameters and the conformational energy surfaces of meso or racemic dyad of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA). Three different carbonyl-bond orientations of side-groups resulted in the differences in depth of potential wells in their energetic contours for a meso or a racemic dyad. These discrepancies are interpreted as a result of various fine structures corresponding to grid search conformations as well as thereby different interactions. The analysis on the most stable conformations of PMAA confirmed that the ester groups are nearly perpendicular to the plane defined by the two adjacent skeletal bonds but may possibly change their relative orientations to meet the requirement of lower energy during the conformational state transition. For each polymer, two global energy maps of a meso and a racemic dyad were finally constructed from the superposition of energy data for the three kinds of side-group orientations by the Boltzmann factors. From an ensemble average, the proposed scheme with three rotational isomeric states (RIS) allowed us to access the experimentally unperturbed dimensions of PAA chain via the configurational statistical mechanics. Although the calculation was based on the short-range, local interactions, it was interested to note that the experimental characteristic ratios just fell within the range calculated for atactic chains.

Poly (Acrylamide-co-Acrylic Acid) Hydrogel Induced by Glow-Discharge Electrolysis Plasma and Its Adsorption Properties for Cationic Dyes

In this paper, poly （acrylamide-co-acrylic acid） （P（AM-co-AA）） hydrogel was pre- pared in an aqueous solution by using glow-discharge electrolysis plasma （GDEP） induced copoly- merization of acrylamide （AM） and acrylic acid （AA）, in which N,N＇-methylenebisacrylamide （MBA） was used as a crosslinker. A mechanism for the synthesis of P（AM-co-AA） hydrogel was proposed. To optimize the synthesis condition, the following parameters were examined in detail： the discharge voltage, discharge time, the content of the crosslinker, and the mass ratio of AM to AA. The results showed that the optimum pH range for cationic dyes removal was found to be 5.0-10.0. The P（AM-co-AA） hydrogel exhibits a very high adsorption potential and the ex- perimental adsorption capacities for Crystal violet （CV） and Methylene blue （MB） were 2974.3 mg/g and 2303.6 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption process follows a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In addition, the adsorption mechanism of P（AM-co-AA） hydrogel for cationic dyes was also discussed.

Studies on Graft Copolymerization of Acrylic Acid onto Ramie Fibers with Chromic Acid Initiation System

The graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) with unswollen and swollen ramie fibers using chromic acid (H 2CrO 4) as the initiator has been studied in the presence of air. The effects of initiator concentration, monomer concentration, perchloric acid (HClO 4) concentration, time of polymerization, reaction temperature, and amount of ramie fibers on the graft percentage have been found out. The graft copolymer was characterized by IR spectra, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and thermogravimertric analysis (TGA).

PREPARATION OF POLY(ETHYLENEGLYCOL-co-ACRYLIC ACID) MICROSPHERES WITH DIVINYLBENZNE AS CROSSLINKER BY DISTILLATION-PRECIPITATION POLYMERIZATION

Monodisperse poly（poly（ethyleneglycol） methyl ether acrylate-co-acrylic acid） （poly（PEGMA-co-AA）） microspheres were prepared by distillation-precipitation polymerization with divinylbenzene （DVB） as crosslinker with 2,2＇- azobisisobutyronitrile （AIBN） as initiator in neat acetonitrile without stirring. Under various reaction conditions, four distinct morphologies including the sol, microemulsion, microgels and microspheres were formed during the distillation of the solvent from the reaction system. A 2D morphological map was established as a function of crosslinker concentration and the polar monomer AA concentration, in comonomer feed in the transition between the morphology domains. The effect of the covalent crosslinker DVB on the morphology of the polymer network was investigated in detail at AA fraction of 40 vol%. The ratios of acid to ethylene oxide units presenting in the comonomers dramatically affected the polymer-polymer interaction and hence the morphology of the resultant polymer network. The covalent crosslinking by DVB and the hydrogen bonding crosslinking between two acid units as well as between the acid and ethylene oxide unit played key roles in the formation of monodisperse polymer microspheres.

Molecular Imprinting Fibrous Membranes of Poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) Prepared by Electrospinning

IntroductionOver the past few decades, molecular imprinting has been described as a technology for preparing ＂molecular doors＂ which can be matched to ＂template keys＂. It has been found to be a simple and effective approach to introduce specific recognition sites into synthetic polymers, namely, to create molecular imprinting polymers Remarkable features such as stability, ease of preparation and low cost, have made molecular imprinting polymers particularly attractive in chemical sensors, catalysis, drug delivery, and dedicated separations. Practical applications of molecular imprinting polymers require accessible sites, fast mass transfer, and quick binding. However, present techniques used to prepare molecular imprinting polymers most often result in materials exhibiting a high affinity and selectivity but a low capacity and poor site accessibility for the target molecules. It is also very difficult to remove the imprinted molecules located in these molecular imprinting polymers because the highly cross-linked structures do not allow the templates to move freely. To some extent, combining molecular imprinting technology with membrane separation and surface imprinting can overcome the shortcomings, such as mass transfer limitations and non-quantitative recovery of the template molecules seen for imprinted materials fabricated by conventional bulk methods. In that ease, it appears to us that molecular imprinting polymers with high surface area to volume ratios are particularly desirable for largescale applications. Eleetrospun nano and ultrafine fibrous membranes are the most suitable materials due to advantages such as： （1） large specific surfaces, providing relatively high imprinting sites per unit mass; （2） fine porous structures, resulting in the accessibility of imprinting sites and low diffusion resistance necessary for high efficiency; and （3） easy recoverability from practical operation or applicability for continuous usages. Therefore, in this work, we prepared a unique kind of imprinted material--molecularly imprinted fibrous membranes of poly （ acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid） fabricated by means of an electrospinning process.

A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF POLY(DIVINYLBENZENE-co-ACRYLIC ACID) IN CROSSLINKING PRECIPITATION POLYMERIZATION

Divinylbenzene-80 （DVB-80） and polar monomer acrylic acid （AA） having hydrogen bonding at a total monomer loading of 5 vol% were precipitated-copolymerized in a variety of organic solvents with 2,2＇-azobis（isobutyronitrile） （AIBN） as initiator. The experiments were investigated from a two-dimensional matrix, i.e., the actual crosslinking degree of DVB varying from 0 to 80% and the solvent composition varying from 0 to 100% of toluene mixture with acetonitrile, when the mixture of acetonitrile and toluene was used as the reaction solvent. Under various reaction conditions, six distinct morphologies including soluble polymers, swellable microgels, coagulum, irregular microparticles, and nano-/micrometer microspheres were formed and the structures of these polymer architectures were described. A morphological map was utilized to discuss the effects of both crosslinking degree of DVB and composition of solvent on the transitions between morphology domains. The results demonstrated that the microspheres are formed by an internal contraction due to the marginal solvency of the continuous phase and the crosslinking of the polymer network through the covalent bonding from DVB as well as the interchain hydrogen-bonding between the carboxylic acid units.

Graft Polymerization of Acrylic Acid on a Polytetrafluoroethylene Panel by an Inductively Coupled Plasma

Surface modification on a polytetrafluoroethylene （PTFE） panel was performed with sequential nitrogen plasma treatments and surface-initiated polymerization. By introducing COO- groups to the surface of the PTFE panel through grafting polymerization of acrylic acid （AA）, a transparent poly （acrylic acid） （PAA） membrane was achieved from acrylic acid solution. Grafting polymerization initiating from the active group5 was achieved on the PTFE panel surface after the nitrogen plasma treatment. Utilizing the acrylic acid as monomers, with COO- groups as cross link sites to form reticulation structure, a transparent poly （acrylic acid） membrane with arborescent macromolecular structure was formed on the PTFE panel surface. Analysis meth- ods, such as fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）, microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, were utilized to characterize the structures of the macromolecule membrane on the PTFE panel surface. A contact angle measurement was performed to characterize the modified PTFE panels. The surface hydrophilicities of modified PTFE panels were significantly enhanced after the plasma treatment. It was shown that the grafting rate is related to the treating time and the power of plasma.

The Application of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Fiber Grafted Acrylic Acid as a Cation Exchanger for Removing Cu^(12)

The polytetrafluoroethylene fiber grafted acrylic acid was used as a cation exchanger. The exchange capacity of the cation fiber is 3.06 mmol/g. The maximum Cu2+ adsorption capacity is 107.48 mg/g. It could be desorbed completely by 1mol/L HCl.

Graft Polymerization of Acrylic Acid and Acrylamide onto BOPET Corona Films

The graft polymerization of acrylic acid(A) and acrylamide(B) was carried out onto bi-oriented polyester BOPET corona film.The influence of monomer concentration,reducer concentration and reaction time on the graft polymerization was investigated.The surface tension of the films increased with an increase of monomer concentration,till the concentration of monomer A reached 1.5×10^(-2)g/mL and the concentration of monomer B reached 4.0×10^(-2)g/mL.The surface tension of the films reached a maximum value at 7×10^(-4)M of reducer concentration and subsequently decreased with further increase in reducer concentration.The surface tension of the films increased with the increase of the reaction time apparently within 50min.The grafted corona BOPET films were characterized with IR and XPS.The presence of graft on the film surface was confirmed.The attenuation experiments on grafted corona BOPET films in air at 50℃ and in water were carried out to investigate the persistence of graft polymerization of acrylic acid and arylamide onto BOPET corona films.

Variations in surface and electrical properties of polytetrafluoroethylene film after plasma-induced grafting of acrylic acid

Polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) film was graftpolymerized with acrylic acid(AAc) via a low-temperature plasma technique.The effect of plasma treatment parameters(radio-frequency power and treatment time) on the spin number of free radicals in PTFE film was examined.Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared(ATR-FTIR)spectroscopy,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy,and atomic force microscopy were employed to characterize the chemical structure,surface composition,and microstructure of the original PTFE and PTFE-g-PAAc films,respectively,in order to verify the successful graft polymerization of AAc onto a PTFE film surface.Thermogravimetric analysis illustrated that the thermal stability of bulk PTFE film remains unchanged after graft modification.Water contact angle measurements confirmed that the hydrophilicity of PTFE-g-PAAc film was effectively improved as compared to the original PTFE film.The dielectric constant(ε_r) of PTFE-g-PAAc(GD =218 μg/cm^2) film remained invariable,compared to that of the unmodified PTFE film.Nevertheless,the dielectric loss(tanδ) of PTFE film increased considerably,from 0.0002(GD = 0μg/cm^2) to 0.0073(GD = 218 μg/cm^2),which might be due to the increase in surface polarity and moisture resulting from AAc graft modification.In addition,the surface electrical resistance(R_s) of PTFE film decreased slightly,from 131.89(GD = 0 μg/cm^2) to 110.28 Ω cm^2(GD = 218μg/cm^2) after surface modification,but still retained its inherent high impedance.

Synthesis and Properties of IPN Hydrogels Based on Konjac Glucomannan and Poly(acrylic acid)

Novel interpenetrating polymer network （IPN） hydrogels based on konjac glucomannan （KGM） and poly（acrylic acid） （PAA） were prepared by polymerization and cross-linking of acrylic acid （AA） in the pre-fabricated KGM gel. The IPN gel was analyzed by FF-IR. The studies on the equilibrium swelling ratio of IPN hydrogels revealed their sensitive response to environmental pH value. The results of in vitro degradation showed that the IPN hydrogels retain the enzymatic degradation character of KGM.

Studies on Micellization of a Polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) Copolymer in Aqueous Media by Pyrene Fluorescence

Pyrene probe and TEM have been employed to investigate the behavior of a polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) copolymer in aqueous solution. A significant annealing temperature effect on the I1/I3 ratio of pyrene was observed and was interpreted in terms of the morphological change of micellar cores. Annealing at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PS leads to densification of the hydrophobic core.

Effect of Dissolved CO_2 and Tetrahydrofuran on the Polymerization of Acrylic Acid

The polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) with dissolved carbon dioxide and tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the monomer is studied. Viscosity measurement. differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicate that the conccntration of tctrahydrofuran has pronounced effect on the molecular weight (Mn). glass transition temperature (Tg). and the morphology of the product.

High-performance and robust high-temperature polymer electrolyte membranes with moderate microphase separation by implementation of terphenyl-based polymers

Acid loss and plasticization of phosphoric acid(PA)-doped high-temperature polymer electrolyte membranes(HT-PEMs)are critical limitations to their practical application in fuel cells.To overcome these barriers,poly(terphenyl piperidinium)s constructed from the m-and p-isomers of terphenyl were synthesized to regulate the microstructure of the membrane.Highly rigid p-terphenyl units prompt the formation of moderate PA aggregates,where the ion-pair interaction between piperidinium and biphosphate is reinforced,leading to a reduction in the plasticizing effect.As a result,there are trade-offs between the proton conductivity,mechanical strength,and PA retention of the membranes with varied m/p-isomer ratios.The designed PA-doped PTP-20m membrane exhibits superior ionic conductivity,good mechanical strength,and excellent PA retention over a wide range of temperature(80–160°C)as well as satisfactory resistance to harsh accelerated aging tests.As a result,the membrane presents a desirable combination of performance(1.462 W cm^(-2) under the H_(2)/O_(2)condition,which is 1.5 times higher than that of PBI-based membrane)and durability(300 h at 160°C and 0.2 A cm^(-2))in the fuel cell.The results of this study provide new insights that will guide molecular design from the perspective of microstructure to improve the performance and robustness of HT-PEMs.

TEMPERATURE AND pH RESPONSE,AND SWELLING BEHAVIOR OF POROUS ACRYLONITRILE-ACRYLIC ACID COPOLYMER HYDROGELS

Macroporous acrylonitrile-acrylic acid （AN-AA） copolymer hydrogels were synthesized by flee-radical solution polymerizations, using ammonium persulfate （APS）/N,N,N＇,N＇-tetramethylethylenediamine （TEMED） redox initiator system and alcohols porogens. The morphology, temperature and pH sensitive swelling behavior, and swelling kinetics of the resulting hydrogels were investigated. It was found that alcohol type and concentration had great influences on the pore structure and porosity of hydrogels. The pore size of hydrogel increases with the moderate increase of the length of alcohol alkyl chain. However, a further increase of alkyl length would result in the formation of cauliflower-like structure and the decrease of pore size. The porosity of hydrogels increases with the increase of porogen concentration in the polymerization medium. The hydrogels with macroporous structure swell or shrink much faster in response to the change of pH in comparison with the conventional hydrogel without macroporous structure. Furthermore, the response rate is closely related to the porosity of the hydrogels, which could be easily controlled by modulating the concentration of the porogen in the medium. The circular swelling behavior of hydrogels indicated the formation of a relaxing three-dimensional network.