The synthesis of alkoxotitanium(IV) and -zirconium(IV) complexes of seven chelating tetradentate di- or trianionic amine-phenolate ligands belonging to three families and their application in L-lactide polymerization are described. The isopropoxotitanium complexes were synthesized by a direct reaction between the ligand precursors and titanium tetraisopropoxide, whereas the zirconium complexes were synthesized by various routes. For titanium, complexes of all seven ligands could be synthesized. For zirconium, the hexacoordinate complexes derived from all dianionic ligands were synthesized; however, the only pentacoordinate complex that could be produced was the one derived from the bulky trianionic ligand. X-ray structures of zirconium complexes of the three families indicated a substantial pi donation from the alkoxo ligand to the metal. All complexes were found to be active lactide polymerization catalysts, and their activity was found to depend strongly on the metal, the coordination number around the metal, and the phenolate substituents but not on the ligand backbone.
Aiming at higher activities of group IV diamine bis(phenolate) catalysts in olefin polymerization,
ligands containing electron-withdrawing groups have
been introduced. The dibenzyl Zr complexes of these
ligands lead to highly active 1-hexene catalysts upon
activation yielding, however, low-molecular-weight atactic poly(1-hexene). In contrast, the corresponding titanium complexes are highly active and lead to ultrahigh-molecular-weight poly(1-hexene) of different isotacticities,
dictated by the size of the phenolate substituents.
BackgroundAdipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been gaining fame mainly due to their vast clinical potential, simple isolation methods and minimal donor site morbidity. Adipose-derived MSCs and microvascular endothelial cells have been shown to bear angiogenic and vasculogenic capabilities. We hypothesized that co-culture of human adipose-derived MSCs with human adipose-derived microvascular endothelial cells (HAMECs) will serve as an effective cell pair to induce angiogenesis and vessel-like network formation in three-dimensional scaffolds in vitro.MethodsHAMECs or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were co-cultured on scaffolds with either MSCs or human neonatal dermal fibroblasts. Cells were immunofluorescently stained within the scaffolds at different time points post-seeding. Various analyses were performed to determine vessel length, complexity and degree of maturity.ResultsThe HAMEC:MSC combination yielded the most organized and complex vascular elements within scaffolds, and in the shortest period of time, when compared to the other tested cell combinations. These differences were manifested by higher network complexity, more tube alignment and higher α-smooth muscle actin expression. Moreover, these generated microvessels further matured and developed during the 14-day incubation period within the three-dimensional microenvironment.ConclusionsThese data demonstrate optimal vascular network formation upon co-culture of microvascular endothelial cells and adipose-derived MSCs in vitro and constitute a significant step in appreciation of the potential of microvascular endothelial cells and MSCs in different tissue engineering applications that can also be advantageous in in vivo studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13287-015-0251-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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