This critical review will be of interest to the experts in porous solids (including catalysis), but also solid state chemists and physicists. It presents the state-of-the-art on hybrid porous solids, their advantages, their new routes of synthesis, the structural concepts useful for their ‘design’, aiming at reaching very large pores. Their dynamic properties and the possibility of predicting their structure are described. The large tunability of the pore size leads to unprecedented properties and applications. They concern adsorption of species, storage and delivery and the physical properties of the dense phases. (323 references)

Hybrid porous solids: past, present, future

Electrospinning is a highly versatile method to process solutions or melts, mainly of polymers, into continuous fibers with diameters ranging from a few micrometers to a few nanometers. This technique is applicable to virtually every soluble or fusible polymer. The polymers can be chemically modified and can also be tailored with additives ranging from simple carbon-black particles to complex species such as enzymes, viruses, and bacteria. Electrospinning appears to be straightforward, but is a rather intricate process that depends on a multitude of molecular, process, and technical parameters. The method provides access to entirely new materials, which may have complex chemical structures. Electrospinning is not only a focus of intense academic investigation; the technique is already being applied in many technological areas.

Electrospinning: A Fascinating Method for the Preparation of Ultrathin Fibers

Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles based drug delivery systems

PLGA-based nanoparticles: An overview of biomedical applications

Recent advances on chitosan-based micro- and nanoparticles in drug delivery.

Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles as drug delivery devices

Recently, there has been a great deal of research activity in the development of stimulus-responsive polymeric hydrogels. These hydrogels are responsive to external or internal stimuli and the response can be observed through abrupt changes in the physical nature of the network. This property can be favorable in many drug delivery applications. The external stimuli can be temperature, pH, ionic strength, ultrasonic sound, electric current, etc. A majority of the literature related to the development of stimulus-responsive drug delivery systems deals with temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (pNIPAAm) and its various derivatives. However, acrylic-based pH-sensitive systems with weakly acidic/basic functional groups have also been widely studied. Quite recently, glucose-sensitive hydrogels that are responsive to glucose concentration have been developed to monitor the release of insulin. The present article provides a brief introduction and recent developments in the area of stimulus-responsive hydrogels, particularly those that respond to temperature and pH, and their applications in drug delivery.

Stimulus-Responsive “Smart” Hydrogels as Novel Drug Delivery Systems

Chitosan as a carrier for targeted delivery of small interfering RNA.

Recently, there has been a great deal of research activity in the development of hydrogels as controlled release devices. The present review provides a brief introduction to various methods of synthesis, properties, types of hydrogels, and cross-linking agents which have been used for the preparation of hydrogels exhibiting suitable properties for agricultural applications.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1163/156855502760151580

Walter E. Rudzinski

Papers

Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles as drug delivery devices

Stimulus-Responsive “Smart” Hydrogels as Novel Drug Delivery Systems

Chitosan as a carrier for targeted delivery of small interfering RNA.

Hydrogels as controlled release devices in agriculture

In-vitro release kinetics of cefadroxil-loaded sodium alginate interpenetrating network beads.