A sulfonated magnetic cellulose‐based nanocomposite was prepared and characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Then, it was used as a green nanocatalyst for the synthesis of α‐aminonitriles by a one‐pot three‐component condensation reaction of aldehydes or ketones, amines and trimethylsilylcyanide in ethanol at room temperature. The reaction procedure is simple, yields are very high, reaction time is very short and the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused in subsequent reactions without significant loss of catalytic activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the present work, a green, rapid, convenient and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles is described. In this method, we used 1,2-diketone or a-hydroxy ketone, an aldehyde and ammonium acetate in the presence of graphene oxide-chitosan bionanocomposite, which acted as an efficient nanocatalyst. This protocol has many advantages such as short reaction time, high yield, easy separation of the catalyst and solvent-free condition. We used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to confirm that the nanocomposite was formed, and FT-IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR analyses were performed for the confirmation of the synthesized products.Scheme 2 Proposed mechanism for the synthesis of substituted imidazoles 4a-o. Fig. 5 Reusability of GO-chitosan for the synthesis of 2,4,5-triphenyl-1H-imidazole 4a. 33182 | RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 33177-33184 This journal is

The biomedical applications of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have experienced rapid growth in recent years, due to their expected benefits in medical imaging and therapy. In this work, we report the development of a theranostic nanocomplex constructed from alginate hydrogel co-loaded with cisplatin and AuNPs (abbreviated as ACA) for simultaneous drug delivery and computed tomography imaging. CT26 cells derived from mouse colon adenocarcinoma were exposed to various concentrations of ACA nanocomplex (for 24 h) and the cytotoxicity was measured using MTT assay. Moreover, the cells treated with ACA nanocomplex were imaged in a computed tomography scanner and the contrast enhancement due to the presence of nanocomplex was assessed. The cytotoxicity results showed that ACA nanocomplex had a more potent chemotherapy efficacy than free cisplatin, so that ACA nanocomplex at the concentration of 5 µg/ml (per cisplatin) and 20 µg/ml of free cisplatin resulted in the same cytotoxicity (survival rate: 66%). The computed tomography imaging study revealed that ACA nanocomplex increased the brightness of computed tomography images, the computed tomography number value, and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). ACA nanocomplex can be presented as a computed tomography-traceable nanocarrier that allows to monitor the delivery of therapeutics by assessing their localized accumulation and in vivo biodistribution.

A new cellulose-based nanocomposite was synthesized, characterization and used for the synthesis of imidazoles and α-aminonitriles, and antibacterial property was investigated.

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