Incorporation of Manganese Complexes within Hybrid Resol-Silica and Carbon-Silica Nanoparticles

The incorporation of a luminescent probe into a nano-vector is one of the approaches used to design chemosensors and nanocargos for drug delivery and theranostics. The location of the nano-vector can be followed using fluorescence spectroscopy together with the change of environment that affects the fluorescence properties. The ligand 9-anthracene carboxylate is proposed in this study as a luminescent probe to locate two types of manganese complexes inside three series of porous nanoparticles of different composition: resol-silica, carbon-silica and pure silica. The manganese complexes are a tetranuclear MnIII cluster [MnIII4(μ-O)2(μ-AntCO2)6(bpy)2(ClO4)2] with a butterfly core, and a MnII dinuclear complex [{MnII(bpy)(AntCO2)}2(μ-AntCO2)2(μ-OH2)]. The magnetic measurements indicate that both complexes are present as dinuclear entities when incorporated inside the particles. Both the Mn complexes and the nanoparticles are luminescent. However, when the metal complexes are introduced into the nanoparticles, the luminescent properties of both are altered. The study of the fluorescence of the nanoparticles’ suspensions and of the supernatants shows that MnII compounds seem to be more retained inside the particles than MnIII compounds. The resol-silica nanoparticles with MnII complexes inside is the material that presents the lowest complex leaching in ethanol.

Preparation and fatigue behavior of graphene-based aerogel/epoxy nanocomposites

In this research, the effect of adding graphene-based aerogel ((G)A) nanoparticles on the tensile and fatigue behavior of the epoxy polymer was investigated. Specimens of nanocomposites were prepared by adding 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt.-% (G)A nanoparticles to the epoxy polymer. Tensile tests revealed that the 0.1 wt.-% graphene-based aerogel/epoxy ((G)A/E) nanocomposites had the highest increase in tensile strength with 19 % growth compared to neat epoxy. Also, the tensile modulus increased by 15 % in the 0.5 wt.-% (G)A/E nanocomposites. A substantial improvement in fatigue life of the epoxy polymer was observed on adding 0.1 wt.-% (G)A nanoparticles. For instance, the fatigue life of (G)A/E nanocomposites improved by 236 % at a maximum stress of 35 MPa compared to the neat epoxy. Fractography in failure analysis of the test samples showed that the placement of (G)A porous nanoparticles on the epoxy polymer with crack twist or crack tilt prevent the formation of large and catastrophic cracks, resulting in delaying the fatigue failure.

Self-Assembled Porous Nanoparticles Based on Silicone Polymer with Aggregation-induced Emission for Highly Sensitive Detection of Nitroaromatics

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) -active polymeric materials have been regarded as an ideal class of fluorescent materials to be widely used as fluorescent chemosensors. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and effective...

Bridging the interfacial gap in mixed-matrix membranes by nature-inspired design: precise molecular sieving with polymer-grafted metal–organic frameworks

Porous nanoparticles with interfacial adhesiveness boost the selectivity of separation membranes to achieve size-selective nanofiltration.

Multifunctional Delivery Systems for Peptide Nucleic Acids

The number of applications of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs)—oligonucleotide analogs with a polyamide backbone—is continuously increasing in both in vitro and cellular systems and, parallel to this, delivery systems able to bring PNAs to their targets have been developed. This review is intended to give to the readers an overview on the available carriers for these oligonucleotide mimics, with a particular emphasis on newly developed multi-component- and multifunctional vehicles which boosted PNA research in recent years. The following approaches will be discussed: (a) conjugation with carrier molecules and peptides; (b) liposome formulations; (c) polymer nanoparticles; (d) inorganic porous nanoparticles; (e) carbon based nanocarriers; and (f) self-assembled and supramolecular systems. New therapeutic strategies enabled by the combination of PNA and proper delivery systems are discussed.