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New Strategies to Functional Materials and Polymers - Applied Chemistry in USA

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 3388

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Engineered Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, William Paterson University, 300, Pompton Road, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA
Interests: nanocatalysis; novel metal nanoparticles; macromolecules; polysiloxane based materials; polysilanes; metallopolysilicones; siloxane dendrimers; polymers for drug delivery; nanochemistry; hybridpolymers; green catalysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on “New Strategies to Functional Materials and Polymers—Applied Chemistry in the USA” of the journal Molecules focuses on a variety of chemical fields, inviting papers on various functional materials, including metal compounds, inorganic and organic compounds, polymers, proteins, etc., including both basic research and applications. This topical collection aims to encourage scholars, professors, researchers, and administrators from the USA to use state-of-the-art technologies and concepts to significantly improve the field of applied chemistry. We kindly invite and encourage all research groups covering various applied chemistry areas to make contributions to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Bhanu P. S. Chauhan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 5571 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of PEG-PLGA Microparticles with Tunable Sizes for Controlled Drug Release Application
by Paul Nana Kwame Sagoe, Eduardo José Machado Velázquez, Yohely Maria Espiritusanto, Amelia Gilbert, Thalma Orado, Qiu Wang and Era Jain
Molecules 2023, 28(18), 6679; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28186679 - 18 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1677
Abstract
Polymeric microparticles of polyethyleneglycol-polylactic acid-co-glycolic acid (PEG-PLGA) are widely used as drug carriers for a variety of applications due to their unique characteristics. Although existing techniques for producing polymeric drug carriers offer the possibility of achieving greater production yield across a [...] Read more.
Polymeric microparticles of polyethyleneglycol-polylactic acid-co-glycolic acid (PEG-PLGA) are widely used as drug carriers for a variety of applications due to their unique characteristics. Although existing techniques for producing polymeric drug carriers offer the possibility of achieving greater production yield across a wide range of sizes, these methods are improbable to precisely tune particle size while upholding uniformity of particle size and morphology, ensuring consistent production yield, maintaining batch-to-batch reproducibility, and improving drug loading capacity. Herein, we developed a novel scalable method for the synthesis of tunable-sized microparticles with improved monodispersity and batch-to-batch reproducibility via the coaxial flow-phase separation technique. The study evaluated the effect of various process parameters on microparticle size and polydispersity, including polymer concentration, stirring rate, surfactant concentration, and the organic/aqueous phase flow rate and volume ratio. The results demonstrated that stirring rate and polymer concentration had the most significant impact on the mean particle size and distribution, whereas surfactant concentration had the most substantial impact on the morphology of particles. In addition to synthesizing microparticles of spherical morphology yielding particle sizes in the range of 5–50 µm across different formulations, we were able to also synthesize several microparticles exhibiting different morphologies and particle concentrations as a demonstration of the tunability and scalability of this method. Notably, by adjusting key determining process parameters, it was possible to achieve microparticle sizes in a comparable range (5–7 µm) for different formulations despite varying the concentration of polymer and volume of polymer solution in the organic phase by an order of magnitude. Finally, by the incorporation of fluorescent dyes as model hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, we further demonstrated how polymer amount influences drug loading capacity, encapsulation efficiency, and release kinetics of these microparticles of comparable sizes. Our study provides a framework for fabricating both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drug-loaded microparticles and elucidates the interplay between fabrication parameters and the physicochemical properties of microparticles, thereby offering an itinerary for expanding the applicability of this method for producing polymeric microparticles with desirable characteristics for specific drug delivery applications. Full article
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16 pages, 4503 KiB  
Article
Comparative Study of Polymer-Grafted BaTiO3 Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Normal ATRP as Well as ATRP and ARGET-ATRP with Sacrificial Initiator with a Focus on Controlling the Polymer Graft Density and Molecular Weight
by Ikeoluwa E. Apata, Bhausaheb V. Tawade, Steven P. Cummings, Nihar Pradhan, Alamgir Karim and Dharmaraj Raghavan
Molecules 2023, 28(11), 4444; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28114444 - 30 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1312
Abstract
Structurally well-defined polymer-grafted nanoparticle hybrids are highly sought after for a variety of applications, such as antifouling, mechanical reinforcement, separations, and sensing. Herein, we report the synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate) grafted- and poly(styrene) grafted-BaTiO3 nanoparticles using activator regeneration via electron transfer (ARGET [...] Read more.
Structurally well-defined polymer-grafted nanoparticle hybrids are highly sought after for a variety of applications, such as antifouling, mechanical reinforcement, separations, and sensing. Herein, we report the synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate) grafted- and poly(styrene) grafted-BaTiO3 nanoparticles using activator regeneration via electron transfer (ARGET ATRP) with a sacrificial initiator, atom transfer radical polymerization (normal ATRP), and ATRP with sacrificial initiator, to understand the role of the polymerization procedure in influencing the structure of nanoparticle hybrids. Irrespective of the polymerization procedure adopted for the synthesis of nanoparticle hybrids, we noticed PS grafted on the nanoparticles showed moderation in molecular weight and graft density (ranging from 30,400 to 83,900 g/mol and 0.122 to 0.067 chain/nm2) compared to PMMA-grafted nanoparticles (ranging from 44,620 to 230,000 g/mol and 0.071 to 0.015 chain/nm2). Reducing the polymerization time during ATRP has a significant impact on the molecular weight of polymer brushes grafted on the nanoparticles. PMMA-grafted nanoparticles synthesized using ATRP had lower graft density and considerably higher molecular weight compared to PS-grafted nanoparticles. However, the addition of a sacrificial initiator during ATRP resulted in moderation of the molecular weight and graft density of PMMA-grafted nanoparticles. The use of a sacrificial initiator along with ARGET offered the best control in achieving lower molecular weight and narrow dispersity for both PS (37,870 g/mol and PDI of 1.259) and PMMA (44,620 g/mol and PDI of 1.263) nanoparticle hybrid systems. Full article
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