Thermally responsive bulk polymer films utilizing reversible Diels-Alder chemistry have been developed. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were passivated with thiol-terminated poly(styrene)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PS-b-PEG) copolymer ligand, where the PS and PEG blocks are joined via a Diels-Alder (DA) linkage. The ligand-functionalized nanoparticles were dispersed within a microphase-separated PS-b-...

The effect of polyadenylic acid:polyuridylic acid complex (poly A:U) on immunization was investigated in mice vaccinated by killed Brucella melitensis cells suspended in incomplete adjuvant or in saline. Addition of 300 mug of poly A:U to vaccines rendered 3 x 10(8)B. melitensis cells in saline as immunogenic as 3 x 10(11) cells in oil adjuvant against a severe B. abortus challenge. In the mous...

Vaccines that can rapidly induce strong and robust antibody-mediated immunity could improve protection from certain infectious diseases for which current vaccine formulations are inefficient. For indications such as anthrax and influenza, antibody production in vivo is a correlate of efficacy. Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are frequently studied for their role as vaccine adjuvants, largely ...

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization has been used for the synthesis of the amphiphilic block-copolymer poly(M1-co-M3)-b-poly(M2) from the hydrophilic monomer 5-{2-[2-(2-methoxy-ethoxy)-ethoxy]-ethoxymethyl}-7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene (M2), and the hydrophobic monomers endo,exo-5-decyloxymethyl-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene (M1) and 1,3-di(1-mesityl)-4-{[(bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-en-2-ylcarbonyl)ox...

X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) is a powerful tool for investigating the dynamics of polymer nanocomposites. In this study, XPCS was utilized to analyze matrix-free nanocomposite consisting poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(butyl acrylate)-g-silica nanoparticles (PMMA-b-PBA-g-SiNPs) during uniaxial elongation and stress relaxation. The effect microphase-separated state PMMA-b-PBA on...