RSC Advances Blog

There has recently been a lot of effort devoted to developing scaffolds that can mimic naturally occurring microenvironments to promote tissue regeneration.  These scaffolds need to provide not only a three-dimensional (3D) structural support but also nanotextured surfaces which comprise of a fibrous network for cell adhesion and signaling.

In this review article Shang-Tian Yang and colleagues from The Ohio State University, USA , look at the influence of 3D microstructures and nanotopographies on cellular functions – cell adhesion, proliferation, morphogenesis and differentiation.  The authors then discuss the recent developments in fabrication methods to produce 3D fibrous scaffolds and examples of their applications.

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Three-dimensional fibrous scaffolds with microstructures and nanotextures for tissue engineering, Robin Ng, Ru Zang, Kevin K. Yang, Ning Liu and Shang-Tian Yang, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21085A

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Hydrophobin proteins (also known as fungal adhesion proteins) adsorbed and formed a lubricating monolayer film on a stainless steel surface.

The use of water as a lubricant in certain applications holds several advantages due to its environmentally-safe and non-toxic nature, but employing it is challenging due to its low viscosity.  In this study, scientists from Finland and Germany led by Timo Hakala looked at using hydrophobin proteins to aid water lubrication between two stainless steel surfaces. 

The protein layer that was formed on the steel significantly reduced the friction and wear on the two steel surfaces.  A higher water content in the film could be achieved by attaching a carbohydrate moiety to the protein, which resulted in a decrease in the friction and wear on the steel.  The water content could be controlled by varying the conditions. 

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Adhesion and tribological properties of hydrophobin proteins in aqueous lubrication on stainless steel surfaces, Timo J. Hakala, Päivi Laaksonen, Vesa Saikko, Tiina Ahlroos, Aino Helle, Riitta Mahlberg, Hendrik Hähl, Karin Jacobs , Petri Kuosmanen, Markus B. Linder and Kenneth Holmberg, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21018E

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Scientists from Singapore have investigated the effect of various salts on facilitated transport membranes for carbon dioxide (CO₂) separation.

The addition of salts to polymeric membranes has proven to be a practical way to improve their permselectivity for gas separation. In this work, Rong Wang and Lizhi Zhang from the Nanyang Technical University looked into whether or not this could be applied to CO₂separation.  They found that with the addition of NaF salt, the permeance of N₂ was significantly reduced (by a factor 9.4) – far more so than for CO₂ (reduced by a factor of 1.5). 

The authors also introduced polyoxometalates (POMs) as oxysalts into the membranes.  Whilst the permeance of CO₂through the membranes was much lower, the permselectivity of CO₂ over N₂was much greater.  Due to their unique properties, POMs can be considered as attractive additives to membranes for CO₂ separation.

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Salting-out effect on facilitated transport membranes for CO₂separation: From fluoride salt to polyoxometalates, Lizhi Zhang and Rong Wang, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA20882B

A team from Alabama, USA have reported a highly selective extraction of the uranyl ion from aqueous solution via η²  coordination using hydrophobic amidoxime-functionalized ionic liquids.

The world’s oceans contain approximately one thousand times the terrestrial supply of uranium, but a selective, cheap and insoluble extractant must be developed to overcome the energetic and economic challenge of the low concentrations in seawater and the variety of interfering ions.  In the 1980s, after studying over 200 adsorbents, it was reported that the amidoxime functional group, RC(NH₂)(=NOH), appended to polyacrylonitrile was highly selective towards uranium.

Though well-studied, the coordination of amidoxime to the uranyl ion is not well understood. In this paper, Robin Rogers and his team from the University of Alabama have been able to utilize the functionality of ionic liquids to demonstrate the controversial coordination mechanism for extraction of uranium from seawater by amidoxime extractants.  They have demonstrated, through extraction, spectroscopic, and crystallographic studies that hydrophobic, amidoxime-functionalized ionic liquids selectively extract the uranyl ion from aqueous solution via η² coordination. 

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Highly selective extraction of the uranyl ion with hydrophobic amidoxime-functionalized ionic liquids via η2 coordination
Patrick S. Barber ,  Steven P. Kelley and Robin D. Rogers
RSC Adv., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21344C