PolyDL-lactide (PDLLA) and the block copolymer, polyDL-lactide-b-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polyDL-lactide(PELA) were used as the microsphere matrix to encapsulate plasmid DNA. The PDLLA, PELA, pBR322-loaded PDLLA and pBR322-loaded PELA microspheres were prepared by solvent extraction method based on the formation of multiple w1/o/w2 emulsion. The microspheres were characterized by surface morphology, mean particle size, particle size distribution and loading efficiency. The integrity of DNA molecules after being extracted from microspheres was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. The result suggested that plasmid DNA molecules could retain their integrity after being encapsulated by PELA. The PELA microspheres could prevent plasmid DNA from being digested by DNase. The in vitro degradation and release profiles of plasmid DNA-loaded microspheres were measured in pH = 7.4 buffer solution at 37 ℃. The in vitrodegradation profiles of the microspheres were evaluated by the deterioration in microspheres surface morphology, the molecular weight reduction of polymer, the mass loss of microspheres, the changes of pH values of degradation medium, and the changes of particle size. The in vitro release profiles of the microspheres were assessed by measurement of the amount of DNA presented in the release medium at determined intervals. The release profiles were correlation with the degradation profiles. The release of plasmid DNA from PELA microspheres showed a similar biphasic trend, that is, an initial burst release was followed by a slow, but sustained release.

Silicone-acrylate copolymer latex was prepared through three different polymerization processes, i.e., the batch process, preemulsified monomer addition and the monomer addition process. The results revealed that the monomer addition process is a desirable approach to produce narrow particle size distribution latex with higher polymerization conversion and less amount of coagulum. The effect of silicone content on the glossiness and water absorption of latex film was investigated and the results showed that the glossiness of latex film is improved up to a silicone content of 10% of total monomers, but becomes impaired thereafter, whereas water absorption is reduced accordingly.

The adsorption properties, including the adsorption isotherms, thermodynamics and kinetics, of 1-amino-2-naphthol-4-sulfonic acid (1,2,4-acid) onto weakly basic resin ND900 are investigated. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich equations can give a good fit to the adsorption isotherms, which indicates an endothermic and a favorable adsorption in our study range. A high yield in elimination of about 45.21 %-97.28% is obtained for the tested adsorption systems. The capacity and affinity of the adsorption increase with temperature, due to the phenomena of "solvent-motivated" effects. The value of △H is 51.59 kJ/mol, which indicates a chemical adsorption and then expects the poor desorption property of ND900. The negative value of △G indicates the spontaneous nature of the adsorption process, and the positive value of △S shows the increased randomness at the solid/solution interface during the adsorption process. The value of the adsorption rate constant lower than 0.013 min-1 is indicative of a slow adsorption rate. The intra-particle diffusion must be one of the rate limiting steps.

Three model polyurethane hard segments based on dimethylol butanoic acid (DMBA) and 1,6-hexane diisocyanate(HDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) were prepared by the solution method.Fourier Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to study the H-bonds in these model polyurethanes. The model polyurethane hard segment prepared from HDI and 1,4-butanodiol (BDO) was used for comparison. It was found that the incorporation of the pendent carboxyl through DMBA into the model hard segments weakens the original NH…O = C H-bond but gives more H-bond patterns based on the two H-bond donors, urethane NH and carboxylic OH. The carboxylic dimer is one of the main H-bond types and is stronger than another main H-bond type NH…O=C. In addition, the H-bond in aromatic model hard segments is stronger than that of aliphatic hard segments. The appearance of the free C=O and the fact that almost all N—H is H-bonded suggest that there possibly exist either the third H-bond acceptor or the H-bond formed by one acceptor with two donors.

Spherical polyethylene/polypropylene (PE/PP) in-reactor blend granules with various ethylene/propylene molar ratios and high porosity were synthesized using a high yield TiCl4MgCl2 supported catalyst. A solution of benzoyl peroxide (BPO)/maleic anhydride (MAH)/xylene (interfacial reagent) or BPO/MAH/St (comonomer) was absorbed onto the PE/PP in-reactor blend granules, and solid phase graft polymerization of MAH on PE/PP was conducted. The amount of grafted MAH on PE/PP was measured through chemical titration. The results showed that solid phase graft polymerization of MAH in PE/PP in-reactor blend granules produced graft copolymer with high amount of grafted MAH, and the amount of grafted MAH was raised slightly when St was introduced as comonomer. The graft in-reactor blend was fractionated into five fractions through temperature-gradient extraction fractionation (TGEF), and the fractions were analyzed by FTIR. The results revealed that MAH is mainly grafted on the PE segments, whereas MAH was predominantly grafted on the PP segments when St was present in the graft polymerization system. In addition, the final product is still in the form of regular spherical granules, which is beneficial for industrial processing.

This paper presents experimental observations on the adsorption of individual solutes by a simple thermodynamic framework, and the equilibrium adsorption of ethyl benzoate and diethyl phthalate on phenolic resin adsorbent in hexane solutions within the temperature range of 293-313 K. The experimental results show that the Freundlich adsorption law is applicable to the adsorption of ethyl benzoate and diethyl phthalate on the adsorbent, since all the correlative factors R' are larger than 0.99. The negative values of all the isosteric adsorption enthalpies for ethyl benzoate and diethyl phthalate indicate that they undergo exothermic processes, while their magnitudes (19-28 kJ/mol) manifest a hydrogen bonding sorption process. Other thermodynamic properties: the free energy changes and the entropy change associated with the adsorption have been calculated from the Gibbs adsorption equation and the Gibbs-Helmholtz equation.

A homogeneous longtime stabilized transparent nanometer TiO2 organic solution was obtained by means of the simultaneous hydrolysis and co-polycodensation of tetrabutyltitanate (TBT) and methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MAPTMS) by the sol-gel process. The particle size of nanometer titanium dioxide was controlled by use of bifunctional silanes, such as diphenyldimethoxysilane (DPDMS), diphenyldiethoxysilane (DPDES) and dimethyldiethoxysilane (DMDES). The effect of TiO2 content in the solution on the refractive index of system was discussed in detail. The result shows that the refractive index of solution increases linearly with TiO2 content. The refractive index of the three hybrid nanometer materials attained 1.6053, 1.5846 and 1.5346, respectively. The size of nanometer particles was characterized by TEM and the particle diameter thus obtained is in the range of 20-90 nm. FT-IR spectra of the materials show that the Ti— O—Si bond is formed.

Hydrogels have been synthesized from 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% aqueous solutions of acrylamide monomer by gamma radiation employing doses in the range of 0.2-30 kGy from a Co-60 source. The effect of solution concentration, γ-ray dose, pH and time was studied in order to observe the optimizing conditions in the characterization of hydrogels. Gel fraction increases with dose for all concentrations indicating hundred-percentage conversion of gel at doses≥ 5 kGy for homogenous solutions in the range of 20%-50% concentration. On the other hand, 10% solution provides conversion less than 86% even at 30 kGy, whereas 60% monomer makes an inhomogeneous solution which stile gives about 100% gel fraction. Swelling of hydrogels under water with respect to time varies with both the doses and concentrations due to the change of crosslinking density in the gels. The maximum volume change of hydrogels during swelling and water desorption mainly occurs within 24 h. Swelling is also enhanced with the rise of pH due to change of ionic content of the solvent. Considering the amount of gel fraction and the properties of hydrogel, the samples prepared from 20% solution at 5 kGy show better results. Moreover, the effect of bacteria on hydrogel was found to be nil, suggesting a prohibition of growth of microorganism in it.

Equilibrium data for the adsorption of phenolic compounds, i.e., phenol, p-cresol, p-chlorophenol and p-nitrophenol from aqueous solutions by a water-compatible hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbent (NJ-8) within temperature range of 283-323 K were obtained and correlated with a Freundlich-type of isotherm equation, so that equilibrium constants KFand n were obtained. The capacities of equilibrium adsorption for all the four phenolic compounds on the NJ-8 from aqueous solutions are around 2 times as high as those of Amberlite XAD-4, which may be attributed to the unusual micropore structure and the partial polarity on the network. The values of the enthalpy (always negative) are indicative of an exothermic process, which manifests the adsorption of all the four phenolic compounds on the two polymeric adsorbents to be a process of physical adsorption. The negative values of free energy change show that the solute is more concentrated on the adsorbent than in the bulk solution. The absolute free energy values of adsorption for NJ-8 are always higher than those for Amberlite XAD-4, which indicates that phenolic compounds are preferentially adsorbed on NJ-8. The negative values of the adsorption entropy are consistent with the restricted mobilities of adsorbed molecules of phenolic compounds as compared with the molecules in solution. The adsorption entropy values of phenolic compounds for NJ-8 are lower than those for Amberlite XAD-4, which means the micropores of NJ-8 require more orderly arranged adsorbate.

A unique process of chemical oxidation polymerization of aniline using manganese dioxide (MnO2) as the oxidizing agent in an aqueous medium is described. The reaction between aniline and MnO2 follows a mechanism by which the organic monomer is oxidized while the metal oxide undergoes reductive dissolution. The effects of the amount of oxidizing agent and aniline, pH and temperature of the reactive system, type of acid on the yield and conductivity of polyaniline are discussed. The resulting polyaniline was characterized by IR and UV-Vis spectrometry. Polyaniline with a conductivity of 12.5 S/cm was obtained using 0.033 mol of aniline oxidized by 0.023 mol MnO2 in the presence of 100 mL of 2.7 mol/L HC1 at 25℃ for 4 h.

The fractions of one metallocene-based (mPE) and one conventional (znPE) ethylene-butene copolymer eluted at 80—82℃ from temperature rising elution fractionation were selected for DSC and time-resolved small angle X-ray scattering(SAXS) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) characterization. The DSC and WAXS results show that two crystal structures exist in both mPE and znPE: structure A with higher melting temperature and structure B with lower melting temperature. It was found that original znPE (s-znPE) contains more highly ordered structure A than original mPE (s-mPE)in spite of the higher comonomer content of znPE. Another structure C is also identified because of higher crystallinity measured by WAXS than by DSC and is attributed to the interfacial region. The SAXS data were analyzed with correlation function and two maxima were observed in s-mPE and s-znPE, in agreement with the conclusion of two crystal populations drawn from DSC and WAXS results. These two crystal populations have close long periods in s-mPE, but very different long periods in s-znPE. In contrast, freshly crystallized mPE and znPE (f-mPE and f-znPE) contain only a single crystal population with a broader distribution of long period.

The random copolymers of styrene and 2,5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyloxycarbonyl)styrene] (MPCS) with different copolymerization ratio were synthesized by conventional free radical polymerization. The copolymer having high molecular weight was experimentally elucidated using a combination of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The liquid crystalline behavior of the copolymer was studied using differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry and polarized optical microscopy. It was found that the liquid crystalline behavior was dependent on the content of styrene. Experimental results show that the copolymer could turn into a liquid crystalline phase at about 180℃ when the content of styrene was less than 20%. The mechanical properties of the copolymer were also studied. Preliminary results indicate that the tensile strength decreases while the tensile modulus increases as the content of MPCS is increased.

A simple technique for preparing cauliflower-like PMMA particles by a self-formation method is proposed.PMMA particles can be obtained with tunable surface morphology by varying the polymerization time. Experimental results show that the formation of these cauliflower-like particles can be attributed to the special particle growth mechanism in the self-formation method.

The surface phase separated structure of polyurethanes is always desired due to the advantage of better biocompatibility, compared with the homogeneous one. The key issue is how to control and characterize the surface morphology. In this work, we report the uppermost surface morphology of fluorinated poly(carbonate urethane)s with fluorinated side chains attached to hard segments as studied by AFM, XPS and contact angle measurement. A self-assembled micro-domain with the fluorinated side chain standing up on the uppermost surface has been proposed for polyurethane with higher fluorinated content, based on the result obtained.