Topic Review
Silver and Silver Nanoparticles for Treatment of COVID-19
COVID-19 is an epizootic and life-threatening outbreak affecting millions of people globally. Coronavirus variants have emerged in different locations since their origin. Silver and its compounds, including silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), have been used in the medical field for a long period, especially in surgical treatments. The anti-microbial and anti-viral properties of silver are well documented. These properties depend on the size of the particles, concentration, precursor, method of preparation, and the presence of other benefiting compounds. Several experiments were conducted by researchers worldwide to prove the anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties of silver (Ag) and AgNPs, emphasizing that silver can be introduced to multiple organs in the human body and exhibit the expected antiviral characteristics.
  • 1.5K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Conductive Electrospun Nanofiber Mats
Conductive nanofiber mats can be used in a broad variety of applications, such as electromagnetic shielding, sensors, multifunctional textile surfaces, organic photovoltaics, or biomedicine. Here we give an overview of the most recent applications of such conductive electrospun nanofiber mats.
  • 1.5K
  • 23 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Lignin Nanoparticles and Their Nanocomposites
Lignin nanomaterials have emerged as a promising alternative to fossil-based chemicals and products for some potential added-value applications, which benefits from their structural diversity and biodegradability. This review elucidates a perspective in recent research on nanolignins and their nanocomposites. It summarizes the different nanolignin preparation methods, emphasizing anti-solvent precipitation, self-assembly and interfacial crosslinking. Also described are the preparation of various nanocomposites by the chemical modification of nanolignin and compounds with inorganic materials or polymers. Additionally, advances in numerous potential high-value applications, such as use in food packaging, biomedical, chemical engineering and biorefineries, are described.
  • 1.5K
  • 25 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Dolomite as a Filler in a Polymer Composite
Polymers are being used in many applications all around the world. However, there are some drawbacks in the properties of polymers that could hamper their usage in certain applications. Therefore, a new material polymer composite was introduced. A polymer composite is a polymer-based material with the addition of a filler. Many researchers have reported the improvement in the properties of a polymer when a filler was introduced. This helps minimize the disadvantages of using a polymer. Fillers are materials added to resins or binders (polymer/concrete/metal/ceramic) to improve their specific properties as they are turned into a new form of material called a “composite.” Dolomite is a type of sedimentary carbonate rock that consists mainly of dolomite mineral. The use of dolomite in a polymer composite system has gained increasing attention in recent years after researchers successfully proved that it is capable of improving mechanical and physical properties of various polymeric materials. 
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  • 09 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Calcium Phosphate Nanocluster Complexes
Calcium phosphate nanocluster complexes comprise a core of amorphous calcium phosphate and a sequestering shell of intrinsically disordered phosphopeptides or phosphoproteins. Solutions containing the nanocluster complexes can be thermodynamically stable or metastable due to a tendency to form a precipitate enriched in calcium phosphate. Theoretical and biophysical studies with native and recombinant phosphopeptides have shown how the radius of the core and the stability of the solution depend on the concentration of the sequestering peptide, its affinity for the calcium phosphate and its concentration in relation to the concentration of the calcium phosphate. The thickness of the sequestering shell depends on the conformation of the peptide on the core surface. A sequestering peptide is a flexible sequence including one or more short linear motifs, each of which usually contains several phosphorylated and other acidic residues.  These are the main binding sites to the core so that a peptide with several binding motifs can forms loops and trains on the core surface. Calcium phosphate nanocluster complexes were first identified as substructures of casein micelles in milk and have been prepared as individual particles from peptides derived from caseins and osteopontin. Stable biofluids containing nanocluster complexes cannot cause soft tissues to become mineralized whereas stable or metastable biofluids containing nanocluster complexes can help to mineralize hard tissues.
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  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review
FTIR Spectroscopy as Diagnostic Tools
Infrared spectroscopy has long been used to characterize chemical compounds, but the applicability of this technique to the analysis of biological materials containing highly complex chemical components is arguable. However, recent advances in the development of infrared spectroscopy have significantly enhanced the capacity of this technique in analyzing various types of biological specimens. Consequently, there is an increased number of studies investigating the application of infrared spectroscopy in screening and diagnosis of various diseases. The lack of highly sensitive and specific methods for early detection of cancer has warranted the search for novel approaches. Being more simple, rapid, accurate, inexpensive, non-destructive and suitable for automation compared to existing screening, diagnosis, management and monitoring methods, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can potentially improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes by detecting biochemical changes in cancer patients at the molecular level. Besides the commonly analyzed blood and tissue samples, extracellular vesicle-based method has been gaining popularity as a non-invasive approach. Therefore, infrared spectroscopic analysis of extracellular vesicles could be a useful technique in the future for biomedical applications.
  • 1.5K
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Biodegradation of Plastics  by Fungal and Bacterial Communities
Biodegradation is the deformation of a substance into new compounds through biochemical reactions or the actions of microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi. It is necessary for water-soluble or water-immiscible polymers because they eventually enter streams which can neither be recycled nor incinerated. It is important to consider the microbial degradation of natural and synthetic polymers in order to understand what is necessary for biodegradation and the mechanisms involved. Low/high-density polyethylene is a vital cause of environmental pollution. It occurs by choking the sewer line through mishandling, thus posing an everlasting ecological threat. Environmental pollution due to the unscrupulous consumption of synthetic polymers derived from petroleum has an adverse impact on the environment since the majority of plastics do not degrade, and the further incineration of synthetic plastics generates CO2 and dioxin. This requires understanding the interactions between materials and microorganisms and the biochemical changes involved. Widespread studies on the biodegradation of plastics have been carried out in order to overcome the environmental problems associated with synthetic plastic waste. Awareness of the waste problem and its impact on the environment has awakened new interest in the area of degradable polymers through microbes viz., bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. The microbial degradation of plastics is caused by certain enzymatic activities that lead to a chain cleavage of polymers into oligomers and monomers.
  • 1.5K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Amphibole
Amphibole (/ˈæmfəboʊl/) is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain SiO4 tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Its IMA symbol is Amp. Amphiboles can be green, black, colorless, white, yellow, blue, or brown. The International Mineralogical Association currently classifies amphiboles as a mineral supergroup, within which are two groups and several subgroups.
  • 1.5K
  • 28 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Atomic Radius
The atomic radius of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atom, usually the mean or typical distance from the center of the nucleus to the outermost isolated electron. Since the boundary is not a well-defined physical entity, there are various non-equivalent definitions of atomic radius. Four widely used definitions of atomic radius are: Van der Waals radius, ionic radius, metallic radius and covalent radius. Typically, because of the difficulty to isolate atoms in order to measure their radii separately, atomic radius is measured in a chemically bonded state; however theoretical calculations are simpler when considering atoms in isolation. The dependencies on environment, probe, and state lead to a multiplicity of definitions. Depending on the definition, the term may apply to atoms in condensed matter, covalently bonding in molecules, or in ionized and excited states; and its value may be obtained through experimental measurements, or computed from theoretical models. The value of the radius may depend on the atom's state and context. Electrons do not have definite orbits nor sharply defined ranges. Rather, their positions must be described as probability distributions that taper off gradually as one moves away from the nucleus, without a sharp cutoff; these are referred to as atomic orbitals or electron clouds. Moreover, in condensed matter and molecules, the electron clouds of the atoms usually overlap to some extent, and some of the electrons may roam over a large region encompassing two or more atoms. Under most definitions the radii of isolated neutral atoms range between 30 and 300 pm (trillionths of a meter), or between 0.3 and 3 ångströms. Therefore, the radius of an atom is more than 10,000 times the radius of its nucleus (1–10 fm), and less than 1/1000 of the wavelength of visible light (400–700 nm). For many purposes, atoms can be modeled as spheres. This is only a crude approximation, but it can provide quantitative explanations and predictions for many phenomena, such as the density of liquids and solids, the diffusion of fluids through molecular sieves, the arrangement of atoms and ions in crystals, and the size and shape of molecules.
  • 1.5K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Reductive Aminations with Metal Catalysts
Recently, N-substituted anilines have been the object of increasing research interest in the field of organic chemistry due to their role as key intermediates for the synthesis of important compounds such as polymers, dyes, drugs, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical products. Among the various methods reported in literature for the formation of C–N bonds to access secondary anilines, the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes is the most interesting procedure, because it allows to obtain diverse N-substituted aryl amines by simple reduction of nitro compounds followed by condensation with aldehydes and subsequent reduction of the imine intermediates. These kinds of tandem reactions are generally catalyzed by transition metal-based catalysts, mainly potentially reusable metal nanoparticles. 
  • 1.5K
  • 21 Apr 2021
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