Biocompatible fluorescent organic nanoparticles with tunable photoluminescence were prepared via the one-pot oxidation of polydopamine and subsequently utilized for cell imaging.
After more than four billion years of evolution, nature has created a large number of fascinating living organisms, which show numerous peculiar structures and wonderful properties. Nature can provide sources of plentiful inspiration for scientists to create various materials and devices with special functions and uses. Since Messersmith proposed the fabrication of multifunctional coatings through mussel-inspired chemistry, this field has attracted considerable attention for its promising and exiciting applications. Polydopamine (PDA), an emerging soft matter, has been demonstrated to be a crucial component in mussel-inspired chemistry. In this review, the recent developments of PDA for mussel-inspired surface modification are summarized and discussed. The biomedical applications of PDA-based materials are also highlighted. We believe that this review can provide important and timely information regarding mussel-inspired chemistry and will be of great interest for scientists in the chemistry, materials, biology, medicine and interdisciplinary fields.
The development of polymeric luminescent nanomaterials for biomedical applications has recently attracted a large amount of attention due to the remarkable advantages of these materials compared with small organic dyes and fluorescent inorganic nanomaterials. Among these polymeric luminescent nanomaterials, polymeric luminescent nanomaterials based on dyes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties should be of great research interest due to their unique AIE properties, the designability of polymers and their multifunctional potential. In this review, the recent advances in the design and biomedical applications of polymeric luminescent nanomaterials based on AIE dyes is summarized. Various design strategies for incorporation of these AIE dyes into polymeric systems are included. The potential biomedical applications such as biological imaging, and use in biological sensors and theranostic systems of these polymeric AIE-based nanomaterials have also been highlighted. We trust this review will attract significant interest from scientists from different research fields in chemistry, materials, biology and interdisciplinary areas.
An oil/water separation mesh with high separation efficiency and intrusion pressure of water has been successfully developed by combining mussel-inspired chemistry and Michael addition reaction. The substrate of the stainless steel mesh was first coated with the adhesive polydopamine (PDA) film by simple immersion in an aqueous solution of dopamine at pH of 8.5. Then n-dodecyl mercaptan (NDM) was conjugated with PDA film through Michael addition reaction at ambient temperature. The as-prepared mesh showed highly hydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 144° and superoleophilicity with the oil contact angle of 0°. It can be used to separate a series of oil/water mixtures like gasoline, diesel, etc. The separation efficiency remains high after 30 times use (99.95% for hexane/water mixture). More importantly, the relatively high intrusion pressure (2.2 kPa) gives the opportunity to separation of large amount of oil and water mixtures. This study provides a new prospect to simply introduce multiple molecules on the adhesive PDA-based mesh to achieve various functional oil/water separation materials.
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