Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Glycoproteins are abundant in living organisms and appear in nearly every biological process studied. There are also many clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets that are glycoproteins. The diverse function of glycoproteins is due to their structure – they consist of a polypeptide covalently bonded to a carbohydrate moiety.

The recognition and analysis of glycoproteins can be tricky. Mass spectrometry has proven a powerful tool; however when glycoproteins are in low abundance an enrichment process is required in order to see the proteins. In order to improve glycoprotein recognition Lin et al have developed a novel imprinting strategy using reversible covalent complexation of glycoprotein to create glycoprotein-specific recognition cavities on 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid-immobilized silica nanoparticles (SiO2@AAPBA).

When tested the materials exhibited high glycoprotein adsorption capacity and excellent recognition selectivity not just between glycoproteins and non-glycoproteins but also between specific glycoproteins themselves.

Synthesis of boronic acid-functionalized molecularly imprinted silica nanoparticles for glycoprotein recognition and enrichment

Zian Lin, Lixiang Sun, Wei Lui, Zhiwei Xia, Huanghao Yang and Guonan Chen,
J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 637-643. C3TB21520B

H. L. Parker is a guest web writer for the Journal of Materials Chemistry blog. She currently works at the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, the University of York.

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Writing this blog I am currently experiencing the uncomfortable outcome of not having a desk at home: scorched knees from my overworked laptop giving off enough heat to penetrate two substantial layers of clothing.

It is well known and, as I am experiencing, easily demonstrated that machines generate heat when they operate. This waste heat is an unfortunate trade off in order for it to produce enough power to perform its intended task. However, this heat whilst unavoidable does not have to be wasted. Through the use of thermoelectric materials this heat could be captured and used to generate emission-free renewable power.

This paper by Peng et al presents results of the enhancement of promising thermoelectric Yb-filled COSb₃ skutterudite bulk materials, by incorporating nanoparticles into the bulk material lattice, in order to improve thermoelectric performance. By inclusion of AgSbTe₂ nanoparticles the electrical resistivity of the composites is decreased and the ability of the material to convert heat to electricity is also improved. Overall this leads to a remarkable boost of the power factor that can be achieved.

A Study of Yb0.2Co4Sb12-AgSbTe2 nanocomposites: simultaneous enhancement of all three thermoelectric properties

Jiangying Peng, Liangwei Fu, Qiongzhen Lui, Ming Liu, Junyou Yang, Dale Hitchcock, Menghan, Zhou and Jian He
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 73-79. C3TA13729E

H. L. Parker is a guest web writer for the Journal of Materials Chemistry blog. She currently works at the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, the University of York.

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign-up to our RSS feed or Table of contents alert.