We report the influence of different polymer purification procedures on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells formed from binary blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and fullerenes. Selective Soxhlet extractions and metal scavenging agents were used to remove residual monomer, magnesium salt by-products and catalyst from high-weight P3HT (Mw 121 kg/mol, PDI 1.8, RR ...

The polymerization of isobutylene allows us to obtain a wide spectrum polyisobutylenes (PIBs) which differ in their molecular weight characteristics and the chemical structure chain-end groups. bulk PIBs manufactured worldwide are highly reactive (HRPIBs) with –C(Me)=CH2 end-groups low-molecular weights (Mn < 5 kDa). HRPIBs feedstocks that high demand manufacturing additives for fuels oils, ...

Mesoporous silica materials have been utilized for various applications (catalysis, sensing, drug delivery, adsorption and separation) due to their uniform mesoporous features as well as high surface areas. When organic polymer layers are introduced to the mesopore walls, the physicochemical properties as well as surface nature of the silica (e.g. hydrophilicity and surface charge) can be alter...

Polymer photosensitizers have gained a growing interest as singlet oxygen (1O2) generators. Although they provide route to sustainable chemistry, their efficiency in bulk reactions is restricted by limited supply and short lifetime. Herein, we report membrane reactors that support range of organic using 1O2 generated from polymer photosensitizers. The porous nature the support, nylon fabric fun...

Tubulin-targeting molecules are widely used cancer therapeutic agents. They inhibit microtubule-based structures, including the mitotic spindle, ultimately preventing cell division. The final fates of microtubule-inhibited cells are however often heterogeneous and difficult to predict. While recent work has provided insight into the cell response to inhibitors of microtubule dynamics (taxanes),...

Actin is implicated in membrane fusion, but the precise mechanisms remain unclear. We showed earlier that membrane organelles catalyze the de novo assembly of F-actin that then facilitates the fusion between latex bead phagosomes and a mixture of early and late endocytic organelles. Here, we correlated the polymerization and organization of F-actin with phagosome and endocytic organelle fusion ...

We report here a unique method for formulating doxorubicin-polylactide (Doxo-PLA) conjugate nanoparticles, known as nanoconjugates (NCs), through Doxo/(BDI)ZnN(TMS)(2)-mediated [(BDI) = 2-((2,6-diisopropylphenyl)amido)-4-((2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-imino)-2-pentene], chemo- and regioselective polymerizations of lactide (LA) followed by nanoprecipitation. When Doxo/(BDI)ZnN(TMS)(2) was mixed with 1...

Although silicon is a constituent of normal animal tissues, silicic acid formed by the dissolution of inhaled quartz particles can induce the formation of pathological lesions in which the normal tissue is replaced by fibrotic tissue arranged concentrically around the silica particles. The mechanism of the change which constitutes the disease, silicosis, is unknown. Schulman & Rideal (1937) dem...

Nanocomposites of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) have been synthesized by two methods; specifically, direct solution mixing and in situ polymerization. The nanocomposites were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray dispersive spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, photoluminescence ...

Free-radical polymerization inside mesoporous silica has been investigated in order to open a route to functional polymer-silica composite materials with well-defined mesoporosity. Various vinyl monomers, such as styrene, chloromethyl styrene, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and methacrylic acid, were polymerized after impregnation into mesoporous silicas with various structures, which were synthe...