We present the relaxation dynamics of glass-forming glycerol mixed with 1.1 nm sized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules using dielectric spectroscopy (DS) and two different neutron scattering (NS) techniques. Both, the reorientational dynamics as measured by DS and the density fluctuations detected by NS reveal a broadening of the α relaxation when POSS molecules are added. M...

A highly fluorescent fluorinated semiconducting polymer dot (Pdot) with a quantum yield of up to 49% was developed. The fluorinated Pdot was eight times brighter in cell-labeling applications than its non-fluorinated counterpart, and was rod shaped rather than spherical.

Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering has been employed to introduce fluorine-containing groups onto mammalian cell surfaces. Incubation of HeLa, Jurkat, and HL60 cells in culture with fluorinated sialic acid and mannosamine analogues resulted in cell-surface presentation of fluorinated glycans. Metabolic conversion of fluorinated precursors was detected and quantified by DMB-derivatization and...

New fluorinated microemulsions (F-MEs) formulated from partially fluorinated solvent–co-solvent mixtures and fluorinated anionic AOT-analogue surfactants are reported. These F-MEs permit incorporation of water into fluorinated solvents, up to a volume fraction fwater z 0.13. Interestingly, phase behavior and structures, determined by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), parallel many other cl...

Background: Despite the high safety profile of peptide-based vaccines over conventional counterparts, the inability of small peptides to produce a strong immune response represents the main obstacle for the development of these types of vaccines. Introducing a self-adjuvanting moiety such as fluorinated lipids can overcome this problem. We have recently demonstrated that fluorinated lipids can ...

We report the synthesis and characterization of a series of multiblock thermoplastic polyurethane hydrogels synthesized with PEG as the soft segment and incorporating an isobutyl-functionalized POSS diol (TMP POSS diol) in the hard segment. The molecular weight of PEG was systematically varied to include 10, 20, and 35 kg/mol, while the molar ratio of POSS diol (as chain extender) to PEG was va...

We report on the linear viscoelastic properties of a family of entangled linear thermoplastic nonpolar hybrid inorganic-organic polymers: random copolymers of polystyrene (PS) and styryl-based polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (POSS), R7(Si8O12)(C6H4CHdCH2), with R ) isobutyl (iBu). A series of styrene-styryl POSS random copolymers with 0, 6, 15, 30, and 50 wt % iBuPOSS were investigated. WAXS and...

Among the varied and diverse family of drug delivery systems (DDSs), such as polymer–drug conjugates, polymeric micelles, dendrimers and molecular containers, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) occupy a special position within the group of biocompatible drug carriers. The extraordinary recommendation of POSS for such systems derives from their three-dimensional structure, nanoscale si...