Multifunctional scaffolds comprising neat poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and α-cyclodextrin pseudorotaxanated in α-cyclodextrin form have been fabricated using a conventional electrospinning process. Thorough in-depth characterizations were performed on the pseudorotaxane nanofibers prepared from chloroform (CFM) and CFM/dimethylformamide (DMF) utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), rheology, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and Instron tensile testing. The results indicate the nanofibers obtained from chloroform retain the rotaxanated structure; while those obtained from CFM/DMF had significantly dethreaded during electrospinning. As a consequence, the nanowebs obtained from CFM showed higher moduli and lower elongations at break compared to neat PCL nanowebs and PCL/α-CD nanowebs electrospun from CFM/DMF.

Pseudorotaxane nanofibers based on biomedical polymers, such as poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and α-cyclodextrins (α-CD) open new horizons for a variety of biomedical applications.

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The solubility of two model nutraceuticals, quercetin and sclareol, were measured in organic solvents at 298 K by UV-Vis spectrophotometry and gas chromatography, respectively. Thermodynamic models for solid-liquid phase equilibria are used to correlate and predict the solubility of quercetin and sclareol in organic solvents which are Generally Recognized as Safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration. For both quercetin and sclareol, the NRTL-SAC model satisfactorily correlates the experimental data while the COSMO-SAC solubility prediction results are off by more than one natural logarithm of mole fraction of the experimental data.

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