Self-Assembly of Soluble Chitosan Derivatives Nanoparticles for Vaccine: Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation

Herein, a novel chitosan derivative nanoparticle was proposed to function as a delivery carrier. First of all, an improvement was made to the way N-2-hydroxypropyl trimcthyl ammonium chloride chitosan (N-2-HACC) was synthesized. Moreover, the solution to one-step synthesis of N-2-HACC from chitosan (CS) was developed. Different from the previous report, the synthesis process was simplified, and there was a reduction in the amount of 2,3-epoxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (EPTAC) used. With its excellent water solubility maintained, the relatively low degree of substitution was controlled to facilitate the cross-linking reaction. The results obtained from 1H-NMR, FTIR spectroscopy, and XRD indicated a smooth EPTAC onto CS for the formation of N-2-HACC with 59.33% the degree of substitution (DS). According to our results, N-2-HACC could be dissolved in various organic solvents, deionized water, 1% acetic acid aqueous solution, and others at room temperature. Finally, a novel chitosan nanoparticle material was prepared using the self-assembly method with β-glycerophosphate sodium (β-GC), with excellent immune properties achieved, thus providing a new strategy for chitosan self-assembled nanoparticles.

Phospholipids from plant materials as a corrosion inhibitor in oil production

The article presents the assessment results of carbon steel corrosion rate in 15% hydrochloric acid (aqueous solution) in the presence of phospholipids at 60 °C. The corrosion intensity was estimated from the rate of weight loss; the intensity of electrochemical corrosion was determined from the value of the corrosion current density. Phospholipids were isolated from vegetable oil waste. Surfactants of various operating principles were used as samples for comparison and enhancing the additives efficiency. It was found that the use of phospholipids under experimental conditions made it possible to provide protective properties up to 86.5% for phospholipids individually and up to 95% in a 50:50 mixture with a cationic surfactant.

A novel comparative chromatographic research of secoiridoid glycosides in two species of centaury herb

The aim: A novel comparative analysis of the secoiridoid glycosides composition in Centaurium erythraea Rafn. and Cеntaurium pulchellum (Sw.) Druce has being described. Swertiamarin has been chosen as an active marker and its comparative quantitative estimation in two species of the raw material has been carried out by HPLC method. Materials and methods: The quantitative HPLC analysis of swertiamarin was conducted using a chromatographic column ACE 5 C18. Methanol and 0,5 % acetic acid aqueous solution were used as mobile phases; the chromatographic procedure was carried out in a gradient mode. Results: The content of swertiamarin in the C. pulchellum herb ranges from 2.51 to 3.07 mg/100 mg. In that time swertiamarin content in C. erythraea herb varies and depends from 3.83 to 8.94 mg/100 mg. The content of swertiamarin in C. pulchellum herb is much lower than in C. erythraea herb. Taking into account this fact the possibility of using of C. pulchellum herb for medicine instead of C. erythraea herb must be proven additionally by biological experiments. Also it could be preliminary concluded that the most appropriate climate for swertiamarin accumulation in C. erythraea herb is located in Central and Eastern parts of Ukraine. Conclusions: It was discovered that the main representative of secoiridoid glycosides in C. erythraea is swertiamarin when in C. pulchellum Druce that are represented by both sweroside and swertiamarin. A more perspective raw material – C. erythraea herb, according to the content of swertiamarin, was chosen

Double-Cross-Linked Networks Based on Methacryloyl Mucin

Mucin is a glycoprotein with proven potential in the biomaterials field, but its use is still underexploited for such applications. The present work aims to produce a synthesis of methacryloyl mucin single-network (SN) hydrogels and their double-cross-linked-network (DCN) counterparts. Following the synthesis of the mucin methacryloyl derivative, various SN hydrogels are prepared through the photopolymerization of methacrylate bonds, using reaction media with different pH values. The SN hydrogels are converted into DCN systems via supplementary cross-linking in tannic acid aqueous solution. The chemical modification of mucin is described, and the obtained product is characterized; the structural modification of mucin is assessed through FTIR spectroscopy, and the circular dichroism and the isoelectric point of methacryloyl mucin is evaluated. The affinity for aqueous media of both SN and DCN hydrogels is estimated, and the mechanical properties of the systems are assessed, both at macroscale through uniaxial compression and rheology tests and also at microscale through nanoindentation tests.

Research on Enhanced Detection of Benzoic Acid Additives in Liquid Food Based on Terahertz Metamaterial Devices

It is very important for human health to supervise the use of food additives, because excessive use of food additives will cause harm to the human body, especially lead to organ failures and even cancers. Therefore, it is important to realize high-sensibility detection of benzoic acid, a widely used food additive. Based on the theory of electromagnetism, this research attempts to design a terahertz-enhanced metamaterial resonator, using a metamaterial resonator to achieve enhanced detection of benzoic acid additives by using terahertz technology. The absorption peak of the metamaterial resonator is designed to be 1.95 THz, and the effectiveness of the metamaterial resonator is verified. Firstly, the original THz spectra of benzoic acid aqueous solution samples based on metamaterial are collected. Secondly, smoothing, multivariate scattering correction (MSC), and smoothing combined with first derivative (SG + 1 D) methods are used to preprocess the spectra to study the better spectral pretreatment methods. Then, Uninformative Variable Elimination (UVE) and Competitive Adaptive Reweighted Sampling (CARS) are used to explore the optimal terahertz band selection method. Finally, Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Least square support vector machine (LS-SVM) models are established, respectively, to realize the enhanced detection of benzoic acid additives. The LS-SVM model combined with CARS has the best effect, with the correlation coefficient of prediction set (Rp) is 0.9953, the root mean square error of prediction set (RMSEP) is 7.3 × 10−6, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 2.3610 × 10−5 g/mL. The research results lay a foundation for THz spectral analysis of benzoic acid additives, so that THz technology-based detection of benzoic acid additives in food can reach requirements stipulated in the national standard. This research is of great significance for promoting the detection and analysis of trace additives in food, whose results can also serve as a reference to the detection of antibiotic residues, banned additives, and other trace substances.

Quantitative Determination of 7 Saikosaponins in Xiaochaihu Granules Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Charged Aerosol Detection

Bupleuri Radix (Chaihu, in Chinese) is the principal drug in Xiaochaihu granules (XGs) that is a famous Chinese medicine preparation in China. Since previous analytical methods have not focused on the multiactive saikosaponins of Chaihu, it is difficult to effectively control the quality of XG on the market. In this manuscript, the simultaneous determination of 7 saikosaponins (saikosaponins C, I, H, A, B2, G, and B1) in XG by HPLC with charged aerosol detection (CAD) and confirmation by LC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS were described. The saikosaponins were purified on an SPE cartridge and determined on a Waters CORTECTS C18 column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 2.7 μm) by gradient elution using 0.01% acetic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile. The results showed good linearity with the r2 values higher than 0.998 for all analytes. The average recoveries at three different concentration levels ranged from 80% to 109% and the intraday and interday precision (relative standard deviations, RSD%) were in the range of 1.0%∼1.9% and 1.4%∼2.1%, respectively. The established HPLC-CAD method was subsequently applied to 15 batches of XG to investigate the batch-to-batch consistency and controllability. The proposed method could potentially be used for the quality control of XG and also be helpful in the quality evaluation of Chaihu and its related preparations.

Accurate Prediction of Deprotonation and pH value of Acids in Aqueous Solutions over the Whole Concentration Range

The pKa of an acid is important for determining the dissociation and thermodynamic properties of solutions containing it. However, the value of pKa is typically determined at dilute limit and cannot be used to describe properties of the solution at high concentrations. In this work, we propose an approach to determine the concentration independent equilibrium constant Keq based on pKa and predicted activity coefficients. The Keq determined is applied to predict the degree of dissociation over whole concentration range for weak to strong acids. The pH of acid aqueous solution is predicted over whole concentration range, showing a good agreement with experiments. Based on this approach, we found that the vapor pressures of acid aqueous solutions strongly depend on the degree of dissociation of acids. The proposed model provides useful insights to link the macroscopic properties of acid aqueous solutions to its microscopic dissociation phenomena over the whole concentration range.