Poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) was introduced a decade ago as a potential material for soft tissue repair. All of the proposed copolymerization reactions in the literature include a two-stage ( prepolymerization and curing) synthesis where the reaction times can take as long as several days. This study, on the other hand, proposes a new route that eliminates these disadvantages and enables a rapid synthesis of PGS elastomers via microwave-assisted prepolymerization in minutes instead of days. No purge gas, catalyst or vacuum is needed in the first prepolymerization step. The curing stage was carried out at 150 °C for 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours. The glass transition temperature (T g ) and melting temperatures for the glycerol and sebacic acid fragments (T m 1 and T m 2 ) of these PGS elastomers were found as −35.61 °C, −15.82 °C, and 61.70 °C, respectively. The Young's modulus and tensile strength values were found as 0.50 ± 0.02 MPa and 0.27 ± 0.06 MPa, respectively.

In this study, bio-inspired polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA NPs) were utilized as a starting template to fabricate a well-defined zirconiumbased MOF (UiO-66, PDA@MOF) core/shell heteronanostructures for visible light-emitting diode (LED) light-assisted photocatalytic applications. The selected PDA substrate provided a multifunctional starting platform for one-pot nucleation growth of metal−organic frameworks (MOF) shell layer with regular spherical morphologies (∼350 nm in size), as well as monodisperse size distribution. The obtained band properties of PDA@MOF (E CB = −1.10 eV and E VB = 1.85 eV vs normal hydrogen electrode (NHE)) revealed that the synthesized nanostructures could promote the reduction of oxygen to superoxide anions (O 2•− ) and the formation of HO • for effective visible LED-light-irradiated photocatalytic degradation of MB. To accelerate the photocatalytic decolorization of MB, an electron acceptor (i.e., H 2 O 2 ) was utilized, which effectively surpassed the electron−hole recombination by trapping electron and producing more hydroxyl radicals. Therefore, a remarkable photocatalytic performance was recorded using PDA@MOF, in which ∼99% of MB was decolorized within 80 min under visible LED light illumination thanks to the well-defined core/shell structure, high surface area, convenient band gap, effective molecular sieving due to the regular/ identifiable morphology, as well as good dispersity in reaction medium. Owing to the advantages of PDA@MOF nanoparticles, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance with highest photocurrent density was obtained as 1.53 mA/cm 2 at low potential 0.28 V vs RHE under visible LED illumination, which is ∼20-fold higher than dark conditions (0.07 mA/cm 2 ). This study mainly highlighted the great potential of MOF-based core/shell nanostructures with uniform/regular morphologies as a next generation of visible-light-responsive catalysts for various environmental applications.

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Phenylboronic acid-functionalized, Ag shell-coated, magnetic, monodisperse polymethacrylate microspheres equipped with a glycoprotein-sensitive sandwich system were proposed as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for quantitative determination of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). The magnetization of the SERS tag and the formation of the Ag shell on the magnetic support were achieved using the bifunctional reactivity of newly synthesized polymethacrylate microspheres. The hemolysate of human red blood cells containing both HbA1c and nonglycated hemoglobin was used for determination of HbA1c. The working principle of the proposed SERS tag is based on the immobilization of HbA1c by cyclic boronate ester formation between glycosyl residues of HbA1c and boronic acid groups of magnetic polymethacrylate microspheres and the binding of p-aminothiophenol (PATP)-functionalized Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) carrying another boronic acid ligand via cyclic boronate ester formation via unused glycosyl groups of bound HbA1c. Then, in situ formation of a Raman reporter, 4,4'-dimercaptoazobenzene from PATP under 785 nm laser irradiation allowed for the quantification of HbA1c bound onto the magnetic SERS tag, which was proportional to the HbA1c concentration in the hemolysate of human erythrocytes. The sandwich system provided a significant enhancement in the SERS signal intensity due to the plasmon coupling between Ag NPs and Ag shell-coated magnetic microspheres, and low HbA1c concentrations down to 50 ng/mL could be detected. The calibration curve obtained with a high correlation coefficient between the SERS signal intensity and HbA1c level showed the usability of the SERS protocol for the determination of the HbA1c level in any person.

A magnetic sorbent based on monodisperse-porous silica microspheres was developed for His-tagged protein purification by immobilized metal affinity chromatography.