Polymer Microspheres (polymer + microsphere)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Mineral-Coated Polymer Microspheres for Controlled Protein Binding and Release

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 19 2009
Leenaporn Jongpaiboonkit
Polymer microspheres with a bone-like mineral coatings are generated via a biomimetic process, and this biodegradable coating is used as a carrier for delivery of biological molecules. Acidic and basic proteins are controllably bound and released from these microspheres, suggesting that this approach can be used for binding and delivery of a broad range of biologically active molecules. [source]


Metal ion-imprinted polymer microspheres derived from copper methacrylate for selective separation of heavy metal ions

JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008
Anh Hoang Dam
Abstract Microbeads of metal ion-imprinted polymers (MIIPs) were prepared by a novel precipitation polymerization technique, in which copper methacrylate monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate crosslinker were copolymerized in a rotary evaporator. The prepared microbeads had mono- or narrow size dispersity, and their sizes increased from 1 to 4 ,m with decreasing solvent amount or increasing initiator concentration. The absorption capacity and selectivity of the imprinted polymer for copper ion were determined in the presence of various competitive metal ions. As results, adsorption equilibrium was quickly achieved in about 10 min with high absorbability (about 90%). The effects of pH, initial metallic ion concentration, and MIIP bead size on the absorption capacity were investigated. The Cu(II)-imprinted polymers exhibited extremely high selectivity, which was much higher than that of corresponding blank polymers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008 [source]


Multivariate modeling of encapsulation and release of an ionizable drug from polymer microspheres

JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 12 2009
Hagar I. Labouta
Abstract In the formulation of polymer microspheres (MSs) loaded with verapamil hydrochloride (VRP), a low molecular weight ionizable drug, by W/O/W emulsification, the pH of the external aqueous phase proved to be a primary determinant of both IE and drug release behavior. Increasing the pH of the external aqueous phase enhanced IE (,100% at pH 8.4). This was associated with a considerable increase in initial release rate at pH 1.2. Two multivariate methods, factorial analysis (FA) and artificial neural network (ANN), were used to investigate the impact of the combined effect of the external phase pH and other parameters (polymer concentration and initial drug load) on MS characteristics; IE, initial drug release, MS size and yield. FA indicated that the external aqueous phase pH affected all responses, with a particularly strong correlation with IE in addition to a combined synergistic effect with polymer concentration on MS size. ANN showed better internal and external predictive ability of responses compared to FA. The ANN model developed in the study can be successfully used for multivariate modeling of the encapsulation and release of VRP and similar drug salts from hydrophobic polymer MSs prepared by multiple emulsification in addition to other MS characteristics. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 98:4603,4615, 2009 [source]


One-pot synthesis of surface-functionalized molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres by iniferter-induced "living" radical precipitation polymerization

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 15 2010
Junyi Li
Abstract This article describes for the first time the development of a new polymerization technique by introducing iniferter-induced "living" radical polymerization mechanism into precipitation polymerization and its application in the molecular imprinting field. The resulting iniferter-induced "living" radical precipitation polymerization (ILRPP) has proven to be an effective approach for generating not only narrow disperse poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) microspheres but also molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) microspheres with obvious molecular imprinting effects towards the template (a herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)), rather fast template rebinding kinetics, and appreciable selectivity over structurally related compounds. The binding association constant Ka and apparent maximum number Nmax for the high-affinity sites of the 2,4-D imprinted polymer were determined by Scatchard analysis and found to be 1.18 × 104 M,1 and 4.37 ,mol/g, respectively. In addition, the general applicability of ILRPP in molecular imprinting was also confirmed by the successful preparation of MIP microspheres with another template (2-chloromandelic acid). In particular, the living nature of ILRPP makes it highly useful for the facile one-pot synthesis of functional polymer/MIP microspheres with surface-bound iniferter groups, which allows their direct controlled surface modification via surface-initiated iniferter polymerization and is thus of great potential in preparing advanced polymer/MIP materials. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3217,3228, 2010 [source]


Preparation of molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres via atom transfer radical precipitation polymerization

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 13 2009
Baiyi Zu
Abstract The first combined use of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and precipitation polymerization in the molecular imprinting field is described. The utilized polymerization technique, namely atom transfer radical precipitation polymerization (ATRPP), provides MIP microspheres with obvious molecular imprinting effects towards the template, fast template binding kinetics and an appreciable selectivity over structurally related compounds. The living chain propagation mechanism in ATRPP results in MIP spherical particles with diameters (number-average diameter Dn , 3 ,m) much larger than those prepared via traditional radical precipitation polymerization (TRPP). In addition, the MIP microspheres prepared via ATRPP have also proven to show significantly higher high-affinity binding site densities on their surfaces than the MIP generated via TRPP, while the binding association constants Ka and apparent maximum numbers Nmax of the high-affinity sites as well as the specific template bindings are almost the same in the two cases. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 3257,3270, 2009 [source]


Photoinitiated dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate: A quick approach to prepare polymer microspheres with narrow size distribution

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 4 2008
Jia Chen
Abstract Photoinitiated dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate was carried out in a mixture of ethanol and water as dispersion medium in the presence of poly(N -vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) as the steric stabilizer and Darocur 1173 as photoinitiator. 93.7% of conversion was achieved within 30 min of UV irradiation at room temperature, and microspheres with 0.94 ,m number,average diameter and 1.04 polydispersity index (PDI) were obtained. X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS) analysis revealed that only parts of surface of the microspheres were covered by PVP. The particle size decreased from 2.34 to 0.98 ,m as the concentration of PVP stabilizer increased from 2 to 15%. Extra stabilizer (higher than 15%) has no effect on the particle size and distribution. Increasing medium polarity or decreasing monomer and photoinitiator concentration resulted in a decrease in the particle size. Solvency of reaction medium toward stabilizer, which affects the adsorption of stabilizer on the particle surface, was shown to be crucial for controlling particle size and uniformity because of the high reaction rate in photoinitiated dispersion polymerization. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1329,1338, 2008 [source]


Cagelike polymer microspheres with hollow core/porous shell structures

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 5 2007
Xiaodong He
Abstract Submicron-scaled cagelike polymer microspheres with hollow core/porous shell were synthesized by self-assembling of sulfonated polystyrene (PS) latex particles at monomer droplets interface. The swelling of the PS latex particles by the oil phase provided a driving force to develop the hollow core. The latex particles also served as porogen that would disengage automatically during polymerization. Influential factors that control the morphology of the microspheres, including the reserving time of emulsions, polymerization rate, and the Hildebrand solubility parameter and polarity of the oil phase, were studied. A variety of monomers were polymerized into microspheres with hollow core/porous shell structure and microspheres with different diameters and pore sizes were obtained. The polymer microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 933,941, 2007 [source]


Synthesis of metal/polymer colloidal composites by the tailored deposition of silver onto porous polymer microspheres

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 10 2004
Jin-Woong Kim
Abstract A new colloidal silver system is presented in which a fine colloidal silver is in situ deposited onto functionalized porous poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) [poly(EGDMA)] microspheres. The effectiveness of the silver deposition has been investigated through an examination of the surface characteristics of poly(EGDMA) microspheres. The result reported in this study demonstrate that the control of the surface area and surface functionality (in this study, a hydroxyl group) of poly(EGDMA) microspheres is an important factor that practically determines the degree of deposition of colloidal silver. X-ray analysis has shown that silver nanoparticles are dispersed evenly on inner and outer surfaces and have a face center cubic phase. Preservation testing has shown that silver-containing poly(EGDMA) microspheres have powerful antibacterial properties and, therefore, have significant potential as new preservatives. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2551,2557, 2004 [source]


Preparation and properties of magnetic nano- and microsized particles for biological and environmental separations

JOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 11 2007
Daniel Horák
Abstract The paper presents a critical overview on magnetic nanoparticles and microspheres used as separation media in different fields of chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and environment protection. The preparation of most widely used magnetic iron oxides in appropriate form, their coating or encapsulation in polymer microspheres, and functionalization is discussed in the first part. In the second part, new developments in the main application areas of magnetic composite particles for separation and catalytical purposes are briefly described. They cover separations and isolations of toxic inorganic and organic ions, proteins, and other biopolymers, cells, and microorganisms. Only selected number of relevant papers could be included due to the restricted extent of the review. [source]


Architecture of Polymeric Superstructures Constructed by Mesoscopically Ordered Cubic Lattices

MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS, Issue 4 2003
Koji Ishizu
Abstract Highly monodisperse crosslinked core-shell polymer microspheres could be prepared easily by introducing special crosslinking reagents into the segregated core in block copolymer assembly films. The crosslinked core was stabilized sterically by highly branched shell chains in solution. These microspheres moved like pseudo-latex. The microspheres formed a lattice with a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure near the overlap threshold (C*). This structure changed to a face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice in the bulk region of the films. Photofunctionalized core-shell microspheres were prepared by introducing dithiocarbamate (DC) groups into shell parts by means of polymer reactions, where DC groups could be propagated using vinyl monomers such as methyl methacrylate (MMA) with living radical mechanism. Polymeric superstructure (three microphase-separated structure) films were constructed by graft copolymerization of MMA initiated with photofunctionalized microspheres such as macroinitiators under UV irradiation, exhibiting self-coloring due to Bragg diffraction. These materials can be used for the construction of optical devices such as for the fabrication of light modulators. Photograph of a solution of the microsphere in MMA. [source]


Preparation of monodisperse hydrophilic polymer microspheres with N,N,-methylenediacrylamide as crosslinker by distillation precipitation polymerization

POLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 7 2007
Guangyu Liu
Abstract Highly crosslinked cauliflower-like poly(N,N,-methylenebisacrylamide) particles were prepared by distillation precipitation polymerization in neat acetonitrile with 2,2,-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. Monodisperse hydrophilic polymer microspheres with various functional groups, such as amide, pyrrolidone and carboxylic acid, with a spherical shape and smooth surface in the size range 120,600 nm were prepared by distillation precipitation copolymerizations of functional comonomers including N -isopropylacrylamide, N -vinylpyrrolidone, methacrylic acid with N,N,-methylenebisacrylamide as crosslinker. The polymer particles were formed and precipitated out from the reaction medium during the distillation of the solvent from the reaction system through an entropic precipitation manner. The effects of the solvent and the degree of crosslinking on the morphology and the loading capacity of the functional groups of the resultant polymer particles were investigated. The resulting polymer particles were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Facile synthesis of C8 -functionalized magnetic silica microspheres for enrichment of low-concentration peptides for direct MALDI-TOF MS analysis

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 14 2008
Hemei Chen
Abstract In this study, novel C8 -functionalized magnetic polymer microspheres were prepared by coating single submicron-sized magnetite particle with silica and subsequent modification with chloro (dimethyl) octylsilane. The resulting C8 -functionalized magnetic silica (C8 -f-M-S) microspheres exhibit well-defined magnetite-core-silica-shell structure and possess high content of magnetite, which endow them with high dispersibility and strong magnetic response. With their magnetic property, the synthesized C8 -f-M-S microspheres provide a convenient and efficient way for enrichment of low-abundance peptides from tryptic protein digest and human serum. The enriched peptides/proteins were subjected for MALDI-TOF MS analysis and the enrichment efficiency was documented. In a word, the facile synthesis and efficient enrichment process of the novel C8 -f-M-S microspheres make them promising candidates for isolation of peptides even in complex biological samples such as serum, plasma, and urine. [source]


Cell deposition system based on laser guidance

BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 9 2006
Russell K. Pirlo
Abstract We have designed a laser cell deposition system that employs the phenomenon of laser guidance to place single cells at specific points in a variety of in vitro environments. Here, we describe the components of the system: the laser optics, the deposition chamber, the microinjection cell feeding system and our custom system control software application. We discuss the requirements and challenges involved in laser guidance of cells and how our present system overcomes these challenges. We demonstrate that the patterning system is accurate within one micrometer by repeatedly depositing polymer microspheres and measuring their position. We demonstrate its ability to create highly defined living patterns of cells by creating a defined pattern of neurons with neurite extensions displaying normal function. We found that the positional accuracy of our system is smaller than the variations in cell size and pattern disruptions that occur from normal cell movement during substrate adhesion. The laser cell deposition system is a potentially useful tool that can be used to achieve site- and time-specific placement of an individual cell in a cell culture for the systematic investigation of cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. [source]


Enhancing the Reusability of Endoglucanase-Gold Nanoparticle Bioconjugates by Tethering to Polyurethane Microspheres

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 6 2004
Sumant Phadtare
The synthesis of polyurethane microsphere-gold nanoparticle "core-shell" structures and their use in the immobilization of the enzyme endoglucanase are described. Assembly of gold nanoparticles on the surface of polymer microspheres occurs through interaction of the nitrogens in the polymer with the nanoparticles, thereby precluding the need for modifying the polymer microspheres to enable such nanoparticle binding. Endoglucanse could thereafter be bound to the gold nanoparticles decorating the polyurethane microspheres, leading to a highly stable biocatalyst with excellent reuse characteristics. The immobilized enzyme retains its biocatalytic activity and exhibits improved thermal stability relative to free enzyme in solution. The high surface area of the host gold nanoparticles renders the immobilized enzyme "quasi free", while at the same time retaining advantages of immobilization such as ease of reuse, enhanced temporal and thermal stability, etc. [source]