Vanillin can be obtained from waste of lignocellulosic bioresources with various methods. 1−3 Such vanillin was used as chain extender [divanillin-ethanol amine conjugate (DV-EA)] after its dimerization and further modification with ethanolamine in the synthesis of biobased polyurethane, thereby increasing wt % of biocontents in the final polymer. 1,4-Butanediol often used as a general chain extender in polyurethane synthesis was replaced partially with DV-EA. The generated polyurethane hard segment consists of DV-EA polyol and MDI (methylene diisocyanate) units or 1,4-butanediol and MDI units, respectively. The properties of the DV-EA-based polyurethane were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), and universal testing machine (UTM). The results showed that this advanced polyurethane has 128% of Young's modulus and 147% of increased strain compared to those of control, while its strength and thermal stability were maintained. It is expected that this new biobased tetraol may inspire a new perspective of vanillin application in biobased polyurethane synthesis.
In the present study, we report on the carbonic anhydrase (CA)-assisted formation of biomineralized calcium carbonate crystalline composites (CCCCs). Ellipsoidal CCCCs, such as calcite polymorphism, in a micro-size range catalyzed by CA were successfully synthesized with polyethylene glycol and magnetic nanoparticles in the constant CO 2 pressure controlled chamber, for the first time. CA-assisted CCCCs characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering, showed their crystalline phase with mesoporous property according to Fourier transform infrared and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller area. These CCCCs retained about 43% of free CA esterase activity. Furthermore, the magnet-based separation was also successful for the reuse of the CCCCs. As a result, the CCCCs produced preserved their catalytic activity even after its ten repeated usages, and were stable for more than 50 days under room temperature. The reported method paves the way for novel biomineralization via CA for the formation of functional CA containing nanocomposites and biocatalyst technology applications.
Epigenetic alterations in gene expression are influenced by experiences and environment, resulting in significant variation of epigenetic markers from individual to individual. Therefore, it is imperative to measure various epigenetic markers simultaneously from samples of individual subjects to accurately analyze the epigenetic markers in biological samples. Moreover, the individualized genome-wide analysis has become a critical technology for recent trends in clinical applications such as early diagnosis and personalized medicine screening of numerous diseases. The array-based detection of modified histones, conventionally used for multiplexed analysis of epigenetic changes, requires pooling of samples from many subjects to analyze population-wise differences in the expression of histone markers and does not permit individualized analysis. Here, we report multiplexed detection of genome-wide changes in various histone modifications at a single-residue resolution using quantum dot (QD)-encoded polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel microparticles. To demonstrate the potential of our methodology, we present the simultaneous detection of (1) acetylation of lysine 9 of histone 3 (Ac-H3K9), (2) dimethylation of H3K9 (2Me-H3K9), and (3) trimethylation of H3K9 (3Me-H3K9) from three distinct regions in the brain [nucleus accumbens (NAc), dorsal striatum (DSt), and cerebellum (Cbl)] of cocaine-exposed mice. Our hydrogel-based epigenetic assay enabled relative quantification of the three histone variants from only 10 μL of each brain lysate (protein content = ∼ 1 μg/μL) per mouse. We verified that the exposure to cocaine induced a significant increase of acetylation while a notable decrease in methylation in NAc.
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