• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2006

A series of methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) $(MPEG)-poly(\varepsilon-co-L-lactide)$ (PCLA) diblock copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of a mixture of $\varepsilon-caprolactone$ and L-lactide with different ratios in the presence of $Sn(Oct)_2$. The characterization of MPEG-PCLA diblock copolymers were examined by $^1H-NMR$, GPC, DSC, and XRD. Kinetic study on ring-opening polymerization of monomer mixtures was carried out in various conditions such as a variation with polymerization time, amount of catalyst, and temperature. The highest conversion obtained in 1.2 ratic of initiator venn catalyst at $110\;^{\circ}C$. The biodegradable characterization of MPEG-PCLA diblock copolymers in aqueous solution was carried out by using GPC for $1\~14$ weeks. The biodegradability of MPEG-PCLA diblock copolymers increased as the L-lactide content of diblock copolymers increased. In conclusion, we confirmed the dependence of polymerization rate according to various conditions. In addition, we can control the biodegradability of MPEC-PCLA diblock copolymers by changing the ratio of PCL and PLA block segment.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 2008

We synthesized PEG-PLA (or PLGA) amphiphilic di-block copolymers, which consist of PEG as biocompatible and hydrophilic block and PLA (or PLGA) as biodegradable and hydrophobic block, by ring opening polymerization of LA in the presence of methoxy PEG as a macroinitiator. The compositions and the molecular weights of the copolymers were controlled by changing the feed ratio of LA (and GA) to PEG initiator. The di-block copolymers could self-assemble in aqueous media to form micellar structure. A hydrophobic model drug, pioglitazone, was loaded into the polymer micelle using solid dispersion and dialysis methods, and the drug-loaded micelles were characterized by AFM, DLS and HPLC measurements. The drug loading capacity and in vitro release studies were performed and evaluated under various conditions. These results indicated that the amphiphilic di-block copolymers of PEG-PLA (or PLGA) could solubilize pioglitazone by solid dispersion method and the drug release was modulated according to micellar chemical compositions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2616-2622
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• 2013

A novel zwitterionic monomer 3-[(2-acrylamido)dimethylammonio]propanesulfonate (DMADAS) was designed and synthesized in this study. Then it was polymerized with acrylamide (AM) by free radical polymerization in 0.5 mol/L NaCl solution with ammonium persulfate ($(NH_4)_2S_2O_8$) and sodium sulfate ($NaHSO_3$) as initiator. The structure and composition of DMADAS and acrylamide-3-[(2-acrylamido)-dimethylammonio]propanesulfonate copolymer (P-AM-DMADAS) were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, $^1H$ NMR and elemental analyses. Isoelectric point (IEP) of P-AM-DMADAS was tested by nanoparticle size and potential analyzer. Solution properties of copolymer were studied by reduced viscosity. Antipolyelectrolyte behavior was observed and was found to be enhanced with increasing DMADAS content in copolymer. The results showed that the viscosity of P-AM-DMADAS is 5.472 dl/g in pure water. Electrolyte was added, which weakened the mutual attraction between sulfonic acid group and quaternary ammonium group. The conformation became loose, which led to the increase of reduced viscosity. The ability of monovalent and divalent cation influencing the viscosity of zwitterionic copolymer obeyed the following sequence: $Li^+$ < $Na^+$ < $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$ < $Ca^{2+}$ < $Ba^{2+}$, and that of anion is in the order: $Cl^-$ < $Br^-$ < $I^-$, $CO{_3}^{2-}$ > $SO{_3}^{2-}{\approx}SO{_4}^{2-}$.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2002

In this work, the cure kinetics and rheological and mechanical properties of diglycidylether of bispheonol A (DGEBA, EP)/polyurethane (PU) blends were investigated. The 1 wt% N-benzylpyrazinium hexafluoroantiminate (BPH) was used as a latent thermal catalyst. Latent properties were performed by measurement of the conversion as a function of reaction temperature using DSC. And the rheological properties of the blend systems were investigated under isothermal conditions using a rheometer. Crosslinking activating energies (Ec) were also determined from the Arrhenius equation based on gel time and curing temperature. The impact strengths were measured as mechanical properties of the casting specimens. The BPH in the blend systems could be an excellent latent thermal catalyst without any co-initiator. The rheological results showed that Ec was highest when PU content was 30 wt% which was in good agreement with the impact strengths. This was probably due to the intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the hydroxyl group in PU and EP, resulting in increasing the crosslinking density.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.344-350
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• 2006

Thermoplasma acidophilum is a thermoacidophilic archaeon that grows optimally at $59^{\circ}C$ and pH 2. Along with another thermoacidophilic archaeon, Sulfolobus solfataricus, it is known to metabolize glucose by the non-phosphorylated Entner-Doudoroff (nED) pathway. In the course of these studies, the specific activities of glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase and glycerate kinase, two enzymes that are involved in the downstream part of the nED pathway, were found to be much higher in T. acidophilum than in S. solfataricus. To characterize glycerate kinase, the enzyme was purified to homogeneity from T. acidophilum cell extracts. The N-terminal sequence of the purified enzyme was in exact agreement with that of Ta0453m in the genome database, with the removal of the initiator methionine. Furthermore, the enzyme was a monomer with a molecular weight of 49kDa and followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with $K_m$ values of 0.56 and 0.32mM for DL-glycerate and ATP, respectively. The enzyme also exhibited excellent thermal stability at $70^{\circ}C$. Of the seven sugars and four phosphate donors tested, only DL-glycerate and ATP were utilized by glycerate kinase as substrates. In addition, a coupled enzyme assay indicated that 2-phosphoglycerate was produced as a product. When divalent metal ions, such as $Mn^{2+},\;CO^{2+},\;Ni^{2+},\;Zn^{2+},\;Ca^{2+},\;and\;Sr^{2+}$, were substituted for $Mg^{2+}$ the enzyme activities were less than 10% of that obtained in the presence of $Mg^{2+}$. The amino acid sequence of T. acidophilum glycerate kinase showed no similarity with E. coli glycerate kinases, which belong to the first glycerate kinase family. This is the first report on the biochemical characterization of an enzyme which belongs to a member of the second glycerate kinase family.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: In this study, the apoptogenic activity and mechanisms of cell death induced by hexane extract of aged black garlic (HEABG) were investigated in human leukemic U937 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: Cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazoliumbromide) assay. Apoptosis was detected using 4,6-diamidino-2-phenyllindile (DAPI) staining, agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry. The protein levels were determined by Western blot analysis. Caspase activity was measured using a colorimetric assay. RESULTS: Exposure to HEABG was found to result in a concentration- and time-dependent growth inhibition by induction of apoptosis, which was associated with an up-regulation of death receptor 4 and Fas legend, and an increase in the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 protein expression. Apoptosis-inducing concentrations of HEABG induced the activation of caspase-9, an initiator caspase of the mitochodrial mediated intrinsic pathway, and caspase-3, accompanied by proteolytic degradation of poly(ADP-ribose)-polymerase. HEABG also induced apoptosis via a death receptor mediated extrinsic pathway by caspase-8 activation, resulting in the truncation of Bid, and suggesting the existence of cross-talk between the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. However, pre-treatment of U937 cells with the caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly blocked the HEABG-induced apoptosis of these cells, and increased the survival rate of HEABG-treated cells, confirming that HEABG-induced apoptosis is mediated through activation of caspase cascade. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the overall results, we suggest that HEABG reduces leukemic cell growth by inducing caspase-dependent apoptosis through both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways, implying its potential therapeutic value in the treatment of leukemia.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.386-391
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• 2015

PURPOSE. The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the effects of adding 4,4'-bis(N,N-diethylamino) benzophenone (DEABP) as a co-initiator to a binary photoinitiating system (camphorquinone-amine) to analyze on the degree of conversion (DC) of a light-cured resin for dental 3D printing. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Cylindrical specimens (N=60, n=30 per group, ${\phi}5mm{\times}1mm$) were fabricated using bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (BisGMA) both with and without DEABP. The freshly mixed resins were exposed to light in a custom-made closed chamber with nine light-emitting diode lamps (wavelength: 405 nm; power: $840mW/cm^2$) for polymerization at each incidence of light-irradiation at 10, 30, 60, 180, and 300 seconds, while five specimens at a time were evaluated at each given irradiation point. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to measure the DC values of the resins. Two-way analysis of variance and the Duncan post hoc test were used to analyze statistically significant differences between the groups and given times (${\alpha}$=.05). RESULTS. In the DEABP-containing resin, the DC values were significantly higher at all points in time (P<.001), and also the initial polymerization velocity was faster than in the DEABP-free resin. CONCLUSION. The addition of DEABP significantly enhanced the DC values and, thus, could potentially become an efficient photoinitiator when combined with a camphorquinone-amine system and may be utilized as a more advanced photopolymerization system for dental 3D printing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3753-3758
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• 2015

Background: Polymeric nanoparticles are attractive materials that have been widely used in medicine for drug delivery, with therapeutic applications. In our study, polymeric nanoparticles and the anticancer drug, chrysin, were encapsulated into poly (D, L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) poly (ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG) nanoparticles for local treatment. Materials and Methods: PLGA: PEG triblock copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of D, L-lactide and glycolide as an initiator. The bulk properties of these copolymers were characterized using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In addition, the resulting particles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Results: The chrysin encapsulation efficiency achieved for polymeric nanoparticles was 70% control of release kinetics. The cytotoxicity of different concentration of pure chrysin and chrysin loaded in PLGA-PEG ($5-640{\mu}M$) on T47-D breast cancer cell line was analyzed by MTT-assay. Conclusions: There is potential for use of these nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Future work should include in vivo investigation of the targeting capability and effectiveness of these nanoparticles in the treatment of breast cancer.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.284-290
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• 1993

The soap-free emulsion polymerization was carried out for Styrene/Butadiene system with Acrylonitrile as hydrophilic comonomer and KPS as initiator. Under the condition of below 50% conversion, the dependence of Rp on $[AN]^n$ and $[KPS]^n$ was found to be n=1.617-1.050 and n=0.83-0.96 for [AN] and [KPS], respectively. The effect of $[AN]^n$ and $[KPS]^n$ on particle number density (Np) was determined to be n=1.533 and n=0.733, respectively. The highest conversion was obtained under the conditions of pH=5 and ratio of total monomer (g) to water (g)=0.5. The mechanical properties of SBR obtained in this experiment were shown to be inferior to commercial SBR in terms of tensile strength, 300% modulus and elongation. It was found that cure rate of SBR prepared in this experiment was faster than that of commercial SBR.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.370-375
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• 2008

Optimum synthesis conditions were investigated for the non-aqueous dispersion (NAD) polymerization of environmentally-friendly acrylic resin. The optimum amount of stabilizer was observed to be 20 wt% to prevent flocculation of the synthesized polymer particles. The optimum ratio of aliphatic solvents to aromatic solvents turned out to be 80 to 20 in order to obtain a stabilized NAD resins. The viscosity of NAD resins was affected not only by the reaction time but also by the amount of initiator and the impeller rpm. Also, the particle size and the size distribution were influenced by the amount of stabilizers and initiators. Since the stability of NAD resin was devastated by the increase in particle size when all the monomers were fed at the beginning of polymerization, the monomers need to be put into the reactor step by step throughout the entire polymerization process.