Zein is a biodegradable and biocompatible material extracted from renewable resources; it comprises almost 80% of the whole protein content in corn. This review highlights and describes some zein and zein-based materials, focusing on biomedical applications. It was demonstrated in this review that the biodegradation and biocompatibility of zein are key parameters for its uses in the food-packing, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the presence of hydrophilic-hydrophobic groups in zein chains is a very important aspect for obtaining material with different hydrophobicities by mixing with other moieties (polymeric or not), but also for obtaining derivatives with different properties. The physical and chemical characteristics and special structure (at the molecular, nano and micro scales) make zein molecules inherently superior to many other polymers from natural sources and synthetic ones. The film-forming property of zein and zein-based materials is important for several applications. The good electrospinnability of zein is important for producing zein and zein-based nanofibers for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. The use of zein’s hydrolysate peptides for reducing blood pressure is another important issue related to the application of derivatives of zein in the biomedical field. It is pointed out that the biodegradability and biocompatibility of zein and other inherent properties associated with zein’s structure allow a myriad of applications of such materials with great potential in the near future.

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The depolymerization of waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PETW) flakes from bottles was investigated using a nonaqueous NaOH in ethylene glycol solution and was carried out at p atm from 150 to 185 °C, using a NaOH:PET molar ratio of 4:1. The increasing amount of water taken up by the flakes and after submitting them to thermopressing at 260 °C increased the reactivity of the rectangular specimens thermopressed during the depolymerization. At a stirring rate value of 1360 rpm, the product was removed from the unreacted PET surface and the chemical reaction was rate-determining. Using the kinetic model of shrinking core of heterogeneous chemical reaction control, considering the formation and growth of cracks and pores on the polymer surface, the E a value was 172.7 kJ‚mol -1 , which was relatively high. However, in the thermodynamic analysis it was shown that the compensation effect of the ∆S q over the ∆H q is sufficiently high to compensate for the high E a .

This study describes the stability and rheological behavior of suspensions of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-chitosan (PNIPAM-CS), and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-chitosan-poly(acrylic acid) (PNIPAM-CS-PAA) crosslinked particles sensitive to pH and temperature. These dual-sensitive materials were simply obtained by one-pot method, via free-radical precipitation copolymerization with potassium persulfate, using N,N 0 -methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinking agent. Incorporation of the precursor materials into the chemical networks was confirmed by elementary analysis and infrared spectroscopy. The influence of external stimuli such as pH and temperature, or both, on particle behavior was investigated through rheological measurements, visual stability tests, and analytical centrifugation. The PNIPAM-CS particles showed higher stability in acid and neutral media, whereas PNIPAM-CS-PAA particles were more stable in neutral and alkaline media, both below and above the lower critical solution temperature of PNIPAM (stability data). This is due to different interparticle interactions as well as those between the particles and the medium (also evidenced by rheological data), which were also influenced by the pH and temperature of the medium. Based on the results obtained, we found that the introduction of pH-sensitive polymers to crosslinked PNIPAM particles not only produced dual-sensitive materials but also allowed particle stability to be adjusted, making phase separation faster or slower, depending on the desired application. Thus, it is possible to adapt the material to different media. Figure 8. Apparent viscosity as a function of shear rate for PNIPAM-CS-PAA suspensions in (a) pH 3; (b) pH 10 and (c) and (d) pH 7. *, measurements before heating; þ, measurements with heating; -, measurements after heating. ARTICLE WWW.MATERIALSVIEWS.COM WILEYONLINELIBRARY.COM/APP

The present study aimed to study the reaction conditions of grafting of acrylamide on xanthan gum. It was analyzed the influence of reaction conditions, mainly type of initiator activation, initiator concentration and initiator/acrylamide ratio, on graft parameters and copolymer properties. Potassium persulfate was employed as an initiator and heating or N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine was used to activate the initiator. Reaction time and initiator concentration were varied and final values for grafting percentage and grafting efficiency were the same for both methods, whereas speed in reaching these values differs from one technique to another. We found that reaction time was inversely proportional to intrinsic viscosity, likely due to main chain degradation promoted by potassium persulfate (KPS); furthermore, the increasing in the KPS concentration lowers grafting percentage, acrylamide conversion and chain degradation, possibly as a result of O(2) formation at high KPS concentrations.

In this work, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) was incorporated into previously oxidized PS and PET surfaces by grafting using two photo-initiation pathways. The incorporation of PNIPAAm was observed by drop water contact angle measurements, dyeing with Methylene Blue and AFM images analysis of the virgin and modified polymers. It was verified that the grafting process depends on the chemical surface environment. The grafted surfaces are hydrophilic below 32 degrees C and hydrophobic above this temperature. The transition is due to the incorporated PNIPAAm. This characteristic gives to the grafted materials potential to be applied as biomaterials.

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