The objective of this project is to introduce students to the concepts of diffusion, polymers and polymerization reactions, and enzyme mediated reactions by designing and testing a controlled release drug delivery system. These types of systems are also referred to as localized drug delivery because an implant that releases drugs is placed directly into diseased tissue. Here, we use Jell-O c ©a...

The novel dicationic metathesis catalyst [(RuCl2(H2ITapMe2)(=CH-2-(2-PrO)-C6H4))(2+) (OTf(-))2] (Ru-2, H2ITapMe2 = 1,3-bis(2',6'-dimethyl-4'-trimethylammoniumphenyl)-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene, OTf(-) = CF3SO3 (-)) based on a dicationic N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand was prepared. The reactivity was tested in ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) under biphasic conditions using ...

A large proportion (60-85%) of the actin present in lysates of cultured baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells is monomeric at low temperature. All this G-actin is accounted for in the fractions obtained by high-speed centrifugation of the lysate in the presence or absence of non-ionic detergent; 98 (+/- 7)% of its reacts as monomer in the deoxyribonuclease assay. The fractions nevertheless possess ac...

We examined the nucleated polymerization of actin from the two ends of filaments that comprise the microvillus (MV) core in intestinal epithelial cells by electron microscopy. Three different in vitro preparations were used to nucleate the polymerization of muscle G-actin: (a) MV core fragments containing "barbed" and "pointed" filament ends exposed by shear during isolation, (b) isolated, memb...

Naturally occurring 3-alkylpyridinium polymers from the marine sponge Reniera sarai are membrane-active compounds exerting a selective cytotoxicity towards non small cell lung cancer cells, and stable transfection of nucleated mammalian cells. In view of their possible use as chemotherapeutics and/or transfection tools, three poly-APS based synthetic compounds were tested on their activity usin...

Heteroatom-doped carbon materials have demonstrated great potential in the electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 (CO2RR) due to their versatile structure and function. However, rational control remains one challenge. In this work, we reported a unique precursor soft template-containing porous poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) that was directly synthesized via free-radical self-polymerization ionic l...