Sharif Digital Repository

The synthesis of modified versions of deoxyribonucleic acid is an area that is receiving much attention. The replacement of the nitrogen atom on the nucleobases with boron atom has provided insight into deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid stability, recognition, and replication at the atomic level. In the present research, we investigated a detailed density functional theory study of the structural, tautomeric, base-pairing ability, bond dissociation energy, and electronic properties of two boron analogues (i.e., boron substitutions at 4-position and 5-position of uracil) of uracil nucleobase. The effects of these modifications on theirs acid-base properties have been considered. Our... 

The main challenge in many applications of acetic acid is acid dehydration and its recovery from wastewater streams. Therefore, the performance of polyamide thin film composite is evaluated to separate acetic acid from water. To reach this goal, the formation of polyamide layer on polysulfone support membrane was investigated via interfacial polymerization (IP) of meta-phenylenediamine (MPD) in water with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) in hexane. Also, the effect of synthesis conditions, such as concentration of monomers and curing temperature on separation of acetic acid from water were investigated by reverse osmosis process. Moreover, the separation mechanism was discussed. The solute... 

In this study, a novel hybrid hydrogel based on chitosan, acrylic acid and amine-functionalized nanosilica was prepared and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. This hydrogel nanocomposite was used for removal of Co2+, Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ ions from aqueous solution. The metal ion adsorption was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The adsorption behavior showed that the presence of modified nanosilica enhanced the porosity of the hydrogel network and affected its adsorption capacity in response to different parameters such as nanosilica content, metal ion concentration, adsorbent content,... 

In the current investigation, four novel donoracceptor type organic dyes including (DPA-Ba, DPA-Hy, DPA-Rh, DPA-Cy), are proposed and their photophysical and electrochemical properties as well as dye-sensitized solar cell performance are systematically investigated. Among these dyes diphenylamine is utilized as an-electron donor while barbituric acid, hydantoin, rhodanine-n-acetic acid and cyano acetic acid, are proposed as anchoring groups as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The synthesized dyes are characterized using FT-IR, NMR, mass spectrometry, absorbance and electrochemical measurements. The photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of the solar cells based on... 

Potential effects of folates on the treatment of several human diseases like cognitive function, neural tube defects, coronary heart disease and certain kinds of cancers have been discovered. However, the stability of folic acid against adverse conditions is a great concern. The present study investigates various alginate (A)–pectin (P) gastrointestinal-resistant hydrogel to immobilize folic acid. This involves evaluating different compositions of alginate–pectin to achieve higher encapsulation efficiency and stability during simulated gastric (SG) and simulated intestinal (SI) conditions. Coated alginate hydrogels with pectin resulted significant (p < 0.05) better protection of folic acid... 

In this paper, LM pectin production from commercial apple pectin by using acid, alkali and ammonia methods in the presence of ethanol was studied. Also, the effect of different parameters such as, temperature, time, acid, alkali and ammonia treatment in LM pectin production were evaluated. In all the experiments, low temperature showed a better influence from a recovery, purity and low de-polymerization viewpoint. Optimum conditions in the acid method reached at pH = 2, t = 17 hrs and T = 30°C, in the alkaline method reached at pH = 11, t = 3 hrs and T = 5°C and in the ammonia method reached at 2 N ammonia and T = 5°C, were determined. © Sharif University of Technology  

Four derivatives of hyaluronic acid (HA) bearing thiol (HA-SH), hydrazide (HA-hy), 2-dithiopyridyl (HA-SSPy), and aldehyde groups (HA-al) respectively were synthesized. Thiol and 2-dithiopyridyl as well as hydrazide and aldehyde make up two chemically orthogonal pairs of chemo-selective functionalities that allow in situ formation of interpenetrating (IPN) disulfide and hydrazone networks simultaneously upon the mixing of the above derivatives at once. The formation of IPN was demonstrated by comparing it with the formulations of the same total HA concentration but lacking one of the reactive components. The hydrogel composed of all four components was characterized by a larger elastic... 

In the present study, we designed a pH-responsive drug nanocarrier based on polyamidoamine-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated by PEGylated starch-co-poly(acrylic acid). This carrier was used for the controlled release of doxorubicin as an anticancer drug model. The purpose of using the polyethylene glycol moiety is to generate a biostable nanocarrier in blood stream as it has been reported widely in the pharmaceutical literature. The use of a poly(acrylic acid) segment also provided pH-sensitivity to the polymer. Besides, the magnetic nanoparticles facilitate the cancer cell targeting with an external magnetic field located near the tumor site. This carrier was... 

Easily assembled and biocompatible chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles with multiple stimuli-responsive ability are ideally suited for efficient delivery of therapeutic agents under specific endogenous triggers. We report a simple and versatile strategy to formulate oxidative stress and pH-responsive chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanocarriers with high encapsulation efficiencies of small drug molecules and nerve growth factor protein. This is achieved through invoking the dual role of a thioketal-based weak organic acid to disperse and functionalize low molecular weight chitosan in one-pot. Thioketal embedded chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanostructures respond to oxidative stress and show... 

Development of renewable energies is in parallel with improving high-performance energy storage devices, which can store maximum solar or wind energy and power. Herein, asymmetric energy storage systems are constructed from phosphorus-doped nickel sulfide (P-doped NiS) and biomass-derived humic acid (HA) as positive and negative electrodes, respectively. Initially, nickel sulfide (NiS) nanostructures are directly grown onto nickel foam (NF) via a hydrothermal step. P-doping into the NiS bulk is carried out through a simple hydrothermal process as well. Also, HA is activated via carbonization treatment (A-HA) for employing as the negative electrode's active material. The P-doped NiS-NF... 

Magnetite nanoparticles with an average particle size of 28.8 nm were synthesized, coated with oleic acid, and characterized using various techniques such as DLS, FT-IR, SEM, XRD, VSM, and UV-Vis analysis. A nanofluid consisting of synthesized nanoparticles and 5 wt % acetic acid in toluene as the dispersed phase was prepared and used in the chemical test system, Toluene-Acetic Acid-Water, for the single drop extraction in the presence and absence of an external oscillating magnetic field. Influences of various operating and design parameters such as nanoparticle concentration, drop diameter, and the applied current and frequency on the overall mass-transfer coefficients for the... 

In this study, a new type of magnetite nanocomposite with a core-shell structure was synthesized using Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a core and polyaniline (PANI) as a shell. For this propose, the surface of Fe3O4 was chemically modified with hexamethylenediisocyanate (HMDI) to improve its compatibility and interphase interaction with the polymeric matrix. Thereafter, the PANI was reacted with modified Fe3O4 to anchor them to PANI by covalent bands which acted as a shell. In the second step, the poly (maleic acid-co-acrylic acid) (P(MAc-co-AA)) as polymeric dopant for the PANI was synthesized. Finally, the PANI anchored to Fe3O4 was immersed in an aqueous solution of poly (maleic... 

A switchable dual light- and temperature-responsive drug carrier using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs)-grafted poly(dimethylacrylamide-co-acrylamide)/poly acrylic acid [P(DMA-co-AAm)/PAAc] hydrogel was prepared by free radical polymerization procedure using N,N-methylenebisacrylamide as cross-linker and ammonium persulfate as initiator. Initial P(DMA-co-AAm) hydrogel and uniformly-distributed stable Au NPs, prepared by reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaureate (III) hydrate in the presence of trisodium citrate, were synthesized separately. Then, the prepared P(DMA-co-AAm) and Au NPs were added to an acrylic acid solution along with the cross-linker and initiator to prepare PAAc hydrogel within... 

This study reports the importance of physicochemical characteristics of the core-shell structured polymer-coated Fe3O4 cluster@SiO2 nanocomposite particles for designing the biocatalysts used for transesterification of soybean oil. To demonstrate this issue, two different types of polymer molecules such as polyethylenimine (PEI) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) each with two different molecular weights are employed. The highest fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) synthesis yield values are achieved by the lipases immobilized onto the low- and high-molecular-weight PEI-coated particles as compared to those of the low- and high-molecular-weight PAA-coated particles (i.e., ∼64.8% and ∼73.1% versus... 

In this study, a novel biodegradable hyaluronic acid (HA) based microgel were prepared via enzymatic crosslinking of tyramine conjugated HA (HA-TA) in an inverse microemulsion. HA-TA microdroplets were crosslinked within a few seconds in the presence of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). The high water content of the polymeric network and the inherent negative charge of the HA-TA microgels provided a suitable platform for encapsulation of cationic proteins like lysozyme and TGF-β1 growth factor. The results demonstrated that lysozyme was released, after an initial burst release, in a suitable sustained manner over a period of four weeks. Both diffusion and... 

Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs), coupling photocatalysts and membranes in a single system, have shown a considerable potential to reduce membrane fouling, which is one of the major drawbacks of using membranes to treat water and wastewater. In this study, the visible light-activated photocatalysts were incorporated into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) casting solution to synthesize the photocatalytic composite membranes. The physicochemical properties and the morphology of the membranes and photocatalysts were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance... 

3D hydrogel environment with both unique properties of nanofibrous structure and electrical character can provide a promising scaffold for skeletal muscle tissue engineering approaches. Herein, the poly acrylic acid (PAA)-based hydrogel was engineered to conductive one by aniline polymerization in the form of nanofibers. The poly aniline (PANi) nanofibers were made by the optimized chemical reactions between the surface carboxylate groups of based hydrogel and protonated aniline monomers. We found that the strong bonding which was created between PANi and camphor sulphonic acid (CSA) as a doping agent supporting the stable electrical property of composite hydrogel after incubation in cell... 

Levodopa [L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, or L-DOPA] is an important neurotransmitter used for the treatment of neural disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Abnormal L-Dopa concentrations in biological fluids can be used for the evaluation of such diseases. In this work, a rapid and sensitive method for L-DOPA detection has been reported which is based on in situ formation of polylevodopa nanoparticles. Under alkaline conditions, L-DOPA is spontaneously oxidized to its quinone derivative and shows fluorescence properties. The fluorescence signal of the oxidation product has been monitored and used for the determination of L-DOPA in the presence of dopamine, uric acid, ascorbic acid and other... 

We present a novel hybrid electrode based on reduced graphene oxide/nickel/zinc oxide heterostructures. The sensor was fabricated by template-free hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanorod arrays on conductive glass substrates (FTO) followed by conformal electrodeposition of nickel nanoparticles with an average size of 18 nm. Then, in-situ reduction and electrophoretic deposition of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets on the structured ZnO/Ni electrode was performed. The prepared three-dimensional nanostructure exhibited fast electrocatalytic response (<3 s) towards glucose oxidation due to the large surface area and high electro-activity. The prepared biosensor possessed a wide linear range over...