High internal phase emulsions of water in cyclooctene stabilised by sorbitan monooleate (Span 80) were cured by ring-opening metathesis polymerisation to release fully open macroporous polymer foams wherein the surfactant was covalently incorporated into the poly(cyclooctene) strands via chain transfer reactions. We have demonstrated the use of Span 80 as a surfactant for HIPE templating of ROMP-able monomers resulting in the formation of fully open macroporous polymeric foams wherein the surfactant is covalently bound to the polymer matrix. The covalent functionalization of the poly(COE) strands with Span 80 results in increased polarity of the foam’s surface. Applications of this fundamental concept to other ROMP-able formulations are currently ongoing in our laboratories.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37876997
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles in combination with a non-ionic surfactant (Pluronic L-121) were used to stabilize dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)-in-water high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). The resulting HIPEs containing the MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles at the interface between the oil- and the water-phase were then cured and 100 μm thick, fully open, hierarchically porous hybrid membranes were obtained. The properties of the MIL-100(Fe)@pDCPD polyHIPE membranes were characterized and it was found that up to 14 wt% of the MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles were incorporated in the hybrid-material resulting in an increase of the microporosity up to 130 m2g-1. Hybrid membranes showed an appealing catalytic activity in Friedel-Crafts alkylation in a batch mode as well as in a flow-through mode, thereby demonstrating the preserved accessibility of Lewis acidic sites in the MOF nano-structures.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5733914
In the past few years extracellular vesicles called exosomes have gained huge interest of scientific community since they show a great potential for human diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, an ongoing challenge is their accurate size characterization and quantification due to lack of reliable characterization techniques. Therefore, our work focused on a method development to size-separate, characterize and quantify small amounts of exosomes by asymmetrical-flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) technique coupled to a multi-detection system (UV and multi-angle light-scattering, MALS). Batch DLS and NTA analyses of unfractionated exosomes were also conducted in order to evaluate their shape, internal structure and their number density.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5754138
In this paper the development of AF-MALS method is described for size characterization of the trioleoylglycerol lipid droplets covered by a monolayer of sphingomyelin and cholesterol in water phase, and the large unilamellar lipid vesicles composed of sphingomyelin and cholesterol.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3611727
Multi-arm star-shaped copolymers were synthesized by grafting PCL from commercial hyperbranched polyester Boltorn H40 (BH40). Grafting of caprolactone (CL) from BH40 proceeds without the addition of a catalyst, and without drying the CL. p-Toluenesulfonic acid, which is added as a catalyst during the synthesis of BH40, acts also as a catalyst for CL grafting. By varying the BH40:CL ratio, star copolymers with various chain lengths/molar masses were obtained. Increasing the chain length decreases the glass transition temperature and increases melting temperature and degree of crystallinity. Viscosity of the copolymers is 2-3 orders of magnitude lover as compared to linear PCL.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5742362