Ethylene glycol

About: Ethylene glycol is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 34671 publications have been published within this topic receiving 764447 citations. The topic is also known as: ethylene alcohol & 1,2-dihydroxyethane.

Surface modification of silica nanoparticles to reduce aggregation and nonspecific binding.

Abstract: In this article, a systematic study of the design and development of surface-modification schemes for silica nanoparticles is presented. The nanoparticle surface design involves an optimum balance of the use of inert and active surface functional groups to achieve minimal nanoparticle aggregation and reduce nanoparticle nonspecific binding. Silica nanoparticles were prepared in a water-in-oil microemulsion and subsequently surface modified via cohydrolysis with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and various organosilane reagents. Nanoparticles with different functional groups, including carboxylate, amine, amine/phosphonate, poly(ethylene glycol), octadecyl, and carboxylate/octadecyl groups, were produced. Aggregation studies using SEM, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential analysis indicate that severe aggregation among amine-modified silica nanoparticles can be reduced by adding inert functional groups, such as methyl phosphonate, to the surface. To determine the effect of various surface-modificati...

Large-Scale Synthesis of Uniform and Extremely Small-Sized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for High-Resolution T1 Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents

Abstract: Uniform and extremely small-sized iron oxide nanoparticles (ESIONs) of < 4 nm were synthesized via the thermal decomposition of iron–oleate complex in the presence of oleyl alcohol. Oleyl alcohol lowered the reaction temperature by reducing iron–oleate complex, resulting in the production of small-sized nanoparticles. XRD pattern of 3 nm-sized nanoparticles revealed maghemite crystal structure. These nanoparticles exhibited very low magnetization derived from the spin-canting effect. The hydrophobic nanoparticles can be easily transformed to water-dispersible and biocompatible nanoparticles by capping with the poly(ethylene glycol)-derivatized phosphine oxide (PO-PEG) ligands. Toxic response was not observed with Fe concentration up to 100 μg/mL in MTT cell proliferation assay of POPEG-capped 3 nm-sized iron oxide nanoparticles. The 3 nm-sized nanoparticles exhibited a high r1 relaxivity of 4.78 mM–1 s–1 and low r2/r1 ratio of 6.12, demonstrating that ESIONs can be efficient T1 contrast agents. The high r...

Formation of Polyion Complex Micelles in an Aqueous Milieu from a Pair of Oppositely-Charged Block Copolymers with Poly(ethylene glycol) Segments

Abstract: Stable and monodispersive polyion complex micelles were prepared in an aqueous milieu through electrostatic interaction between a pair of oppositely-charged block copolymers with poly(ethylene glycol) segments : poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lysine) block copolymer (PEG-P(Lys)) and poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(α,β-aspartic acid) block copolymer (PEG-P(Asp)). It was confirmed from photon correlation spectroscopy (dynamic light scattering) that the scaled average characteristic line width (Γ/K 2 ) was independent of the magnitude of the scattering vector (K 2 ), and the diffusion coefficient (D T ) kept constant regardless of the concentration, indicating that the polyion complex micelles were spherical particles without any secondary aggregates. Further, polydispersity indexes (μ2/Γ 2 ) were always less than 0.1 in the range of the measured concentration (1-10 mg/mL). The hydrodynamic radius at infinite dilution of polyion complex micelles was then determined to be 15.2 nm by using the Stokes-Einstein equation. The unimodal size distribution with d w /d n of 1.07 was confirmed from the correlation function profile by the histogram analysis. The size of polyion complex micelles was unchanged even after a 1-month storing, suggesting that the polyion complex micelles are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Viscosity measurement as well as laser-Doppler electrophoresis provided evidence of the stoichiometry of the polyion complex micelles formation. These polyion complex micelles have potential utility as vehicles for charged compounds, i.e., proteins and nucleic acids, in the field of drug delivery.

Direct catalytic conversion of cellulose into ethylene glycol using nickel-promoted tungsten carbide catalysts.

Abstract: Cellulose, the most abundant source of biomass, is currently regarded as a promising alternative for fossil fuels as it cannot be digested by human beings and thus its use, unlike corn and starch, will not impose a negative impact on food supplies. One of the most attractive routes for the reaction of cellulose utilization is its direct conversion into useful organic compounds. A recent example of the catalytic conversion of cellulose has been demonstrated by Fukuoka and Dhepe, who utilized Pt/Al2O3 as an effective catalyst to convert cellulose into sugar alcohols (Scheme 1, Route A). The product sugar alcohols can be used as chemicals in their own right or as new starting materials for the production of fuels, as demonstrated by Dumesic and co-workers. 6] Recently, Luo et al. have studied this process further. In their work, the reaction was conducted at elevated temperatures so that water could generate H ions to catalyze the hydrolysis reactions. The subsequent hydrogenation reaction was catalyzed by Ru/C. An increased sugar alcohol yield was obtained, which was attributed to the higher reaction temperatures and the wellknown high efficiency of Ru/C in the hydrogenation reaction. . A disadvantage of the above two studies is the use of precious-metal catalysts. The amount of precious metals needed for the degradation of cellulose was relatively high, 4– 10 mg per gram of cellulose. This is too expensive for the conversion of large quantities of cellulose, even though the solid catalyst could be reused. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a less expensive but efficient catalyst to replace precious-metal catalysts in this cellulose degradation process. The carbides of Groups 4–6 metals show catalytic performances similar to those of platinum-group metals in a variety of reactions involving hydrogen. In our previous work, tungsten and molybdenum carbides were found to exhibit excellent performances in the catalytic decomposition of hydrazine, which were comparable with those of expensive iridium catalysts. Tungsten carbides have been used as electrocatalysts because of their platinum-like catalytic behavior, stability in acidic solutions, and resistance to CO poisoning. 18] However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no attempts so far to utilize metal carbides as catalysts for cellulose conversion. Herein we report the first observation that carbonsupported tungsten carbide (W2C/AC; AC = activated carbon) can effectively catalyze cellulose conversion into polyols (Scheme 1, Route B). More interestingly, when the catalyst is promoted with a small amount of nickel, the yield of polyols, especially ethylene glycol (EG) and sorbitol, can be significantly increased. These Ni-W2C/AC catalysts showed a remarkably higher selectivity for EG formation than Pt/Al2O3 [4] and Ru/C. After 30 minutes at 518 K and 6 MPa H2, the cellulose could be completely converted into polyols and the yield of EG was as high as 61 wt % with a 2% Ni-30% W2C/AC-973 catalyst. This value is the highest yield reported to date. Currently in the petrochemical industry, EG is mainly produced from ethylene via the intermediate ethylene oxide. The global production of EG in 2007 is estimated to be 17.8 million tonnes, an increase of Scheme 1. Catalytic conversion of cellulose into polyols.