Design of a bactericidal hydrogel scaffold containing genipin crosslinked HF-18 peptide.

Wound healing is a process getting affected by internal and external factors and might be interrupted by infections. To overcome infections during wound healing, novel antibacterial agents such as antimicrobial peptides have gained popularity because of the rising antibiotic resistance. Therefore, in this study, a three-dimensional polymeric scaffold was designed for the controlled release of HF-18 peptide, with the contribution of hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, and chitosan polymers with the crosslinker genipin. The obtained scaffold structure (OPT) was found to have interconnected pores, was pH-responsive and swelled more in acidic conditions (5446.5% at pH: 5.0). It was observed that HF-18-loaded OPT (P-OPT) was able to release HF-18 peptide both in acidic and neutral conditions in a controlled release manner. This study also demonstrated that both OPT and P-OPT were biocompatible and promoted L929 cell attachment and migration. Antimicrobial activity assessments demonstrated that P-OPT was effectively bactericidal on Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Moreover, OPT produced a synergistic effect on the antimicrobial activity of HF-18 peptide, as P-OPT showed activity below the reported MIC value. As a result, OPT is considered a promising scaffold as a carrier for HF-18 for wound healing.

Graphene oxide incorporated chitosan/acrylamide/itaconic acid semi-interpenetrating network hydrogel bio-adsorbents for highly efficient and selective removal of cationic dyes.

In recent years, polymeric bio-adsorbents offers high removal efficiency, superior adsorption capacity and selectivity against various pollutants in aqueous medium. While designing these adsorbents, their environmental friendliness, sustainability, renewability, easy accessibility, and cost-effectiveness should be considered. In this study, GO incorporated semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) nanocomposite hydrogels (CS/AAm/IA/GO) were obtained by free radical copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) and itaconic acid (IA) in the presence of chitosan (CS) as an environmentally friendly bio-adsorbent. GO significantly improved the thermal stability, compressive strength, and percentage swelling of the hydrogel. The selective adsorption studies demonstrated that methylene blue (MB) was the most efficiently removed dye from both individual and mixed dye systems with 99.8 % removal efficiency. The adsorption capacity was found to be 247.47 mg g-1 using 0.025 g hydrogel adsorbent containing 0.5 wt% of GO and an initial MB concentration of 5 mg L-1 at pH 8 over 90 min at room temperature. The kinetic and isotherm studies revealed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Thermodynamic studies suggested the spontaneous and endothermic nature of MB adsorption. Also, the MB removal efficiency above 96 % was obtained after 7 consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles while maintaining the structural stability of the bio-adsorbent.

Kinetic, isotherm, and thermodynamic studies for adsorptive removal of basic violet 14 from aqueous solution.

In this study, the performance of chitosan based semi-IPN nanocomposite hydrogels for the adsorptive removal of basic violet 14 (BV14) from aqueous solution has been explored. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to determine the effect of various parameters on BV14 adsorption, and optimum values were reported as pH of 8, the adsorbent dosage of 0.025 g, initial BV14 concentration of 5 mg L-1 and contact time of 90 min at a temperature of 25 °C. The semi-IPN hydrogel containing 0.5% by weight GO showed the improved adsorption capacity for BV14 compared to the neat hydrogel adsorbent, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 276.21 mg g-1 with a removal efficiency of 90.4%. Kinetic studies have shown that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model can well describe BV14 adsorption. The equilibrium adsorption data showed the best fit with the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic studies revealed that BV14 adsorption was physical in nature and occurred spontaneously and endothermically. The BV14 removal efficiency above 84% was obtained after five consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles, which has proved the reusability performance of the adsorbent and the recovery potential of BV14 dye. Overall, the results of this study indicated that GO containing chitosan based semi-IPN nanocomposite hydrogel could be an effective and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the successful removal of BV14 molecules from aqueous solution.

Solid Phase Extraction of Trace Al(III), Fe(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) Ions in Beverages on Functionalized Polymer Microspheres Prior to Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometric Determinations.

In this study, poly(glycidyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate-divinylbenzene) was synthesized in the form of microspheres, and then functionalized by 2-aminobenzothiazole ligand. The sorption properties of these functionalized microspheres were investigated for separation, preconcentration and determination of Al(III), Fe(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The optimum pH values for quantitative sorption were 2 - 4, 5 - 8, 6 - 8, 4 - 6, 2 - 6 and 2 - 3 for Al(III), Fe(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II), respectively, and also the highest sorption capacity of the functionalized microspheres was found to be for Cu(II) with the value of 1.87 mmol g-1. The detection limits (3σ; N = 6) obtained for the studied metals in the optimal conditions were observed in the range of 0.26 - 2.20 µg L-1. The proposed method was successfully applied to different beverage samples for the determination of Al(III), Fe(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions, with the relative standard deviation of <3.7%.