The polymerization of partially methylated β-cyclodextrin (CRYSMEB) with epichlorohydrin was carried out in the presence of a known amount of toluene as imprinting agent. Three different preparations (D1, D2 and D3) of imprinted polymers were obtained and characterized by solid-state (13)C NMR spectroscopy under cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP-MAS) conditions. The polymers were prep...

This work reports that the rheology of ideally monodisperse lambda ( λ $$ \lambda ) phage DNA solutions is extremely sensitive to applied strain in dynamic oscillatory experiments. exhibits nonlinearity at strains far smaller than what observed conventional synthetic polymers. However, it found polydisperse calf thymus does not exhibit extreme sensitivity. By mixing samples with DNA, we correla...

The abundance and cytoplasmic organization of keratin filaments enables them to contribute to the maintenance of structural integrity in epithelial tissues. Co-polymers of the type II keratin 8 and type I keratin 18 form the major intermediate filament network in simple epithelia. We investigated the mechanical properties of K8-K18 filament suspensions using rheological assays in conjunction wi...

The rapid and sensitive detection of food contaminants is becoming increasingly important for timely prevention treatment foodborne disease. In this review, we discuss recent developments electrochemical biosensors as facile, rapid, sensitive, user-friendly analytical devices their applications in safety analysis, owing to the characteristics advances design production bioreceptors (antibodies,...

Long-term use of indwelling medical catheters has often been hindered by catheter-associated nosocomial infections. In this study the effectiveness of silver coating of polystyrene and polyethylene polymers was investigated. Polymer pieces of 2 cm(2) each were coated with a thin layer of silver using electroless plating technique. Silver-coated polymers were challenged with cultures of four dif...

This thesis details the development of new materials for high-performance chemical sensing as well as organic electronic applications. In Chapter 2, we develop a chemiresistive material based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) functionalized polythiophene, with a largely simplified fabrication process. The sensor shows high sensitivity and selectivity fo...