The 0 60 "buckyball" I a prominent member of the recently discovered family of fullerene molecules, is an unusual system with exciting properties. This contribution summarizes the present state of theoretical understanding of the equilibrium structure of carbon clusters, in particular the fullerenes, the optical properties of individual fullerene molecules, superconductivity in the alkali-inter...

Recently, we reported a pH-responsive nanoparticle (NP) system shelled with chitosan (CS), which could effectively increase the oral absorption of insulin and produce a hypoglycemic effect, presumably due to the CS-mediated tight junction (TJ) opening. It has been often questioned whether CS can also enhance the absorption of endotoxins present in the small intestine. To address this concern, w...

A continuum-based elastic micromechanics model is developed for silica nanoparticle/polyimide composites with various nanoparticle/polyimide interfacial treatments. The model incorporates the molecular structures of the nanoparticle, polyimide, and interfacial regions, which are determined using a molecular modeling method that involves coarse-grained and reversemapping techniques. The micromec...

biodegradable nanoparticles for aerosol therapy based on the branched polyesters, DEAPA-PVAL-g-PLGA. Pharm Res 2003; 20: 2011–2020. 17 Grenha A, Seijo B, Remunan-Lopez C. Microencapsulated chitosan nanoparticles for lung protein delivery. Eur J Pharm Sci 2005; 25: 427–437. 18 Shi LJ, Plumley CJ, Berkland C. Biodegradable nanoparticle flocculates for dry powder aerosol formulation. Langmuir 2007...

Dilution of contact, hard sphere-like, nanoparticle-nanoparticle interactions upon mixing plays a key role in explaining nanoparticle dispersion in athermal all-polymer nanocomposites, as illustrated for polystyrene-nanoparticle/linear-polystyrene blends as a model system.

Complex formation between a weak flexible polyelectrolyte chain and one positively charged nanoparticle in presence of explicit counterions and salt particles is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. The influence of parameters such as the nanoparticle surface charge density, salt valency, and solution property such as the pH on the chain protonation/deprotonation process and monomer adso...

A boronic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticle-based drug delivery system (BA-MSN) for glucose-responsive controlled release of both insulin and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) was synthesized. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled, gluconic acid-modified insulin (FITC-G-Ins) proteins were immobilized on the exterior surface of BA-MSN and also served as caps to encapsulate cAMP...

Nanoparticles are generally considered excellent candidates for targeted drug delivery. However, ion leakage and cytotoxicity induced by nanoparticle permeation is a potential problem in such drug delivery schemes because of the toxic effect of many ions. In this study, we have carried out a series of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the water penetration, ion transp...