• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.315-320
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• 1999

Surface modification of silicone rubber by low temperature plasma process was investigated to improve quality of silicone EVD tube by reducing tackiness and hydrophobicity. Treatment with nonpolymer-forming plasmas and thin film deposition with polymer-forming plasmas were tried. Tackiness could significantly be reduced, especially by thin film deposition. As a result, the tube became slippery and less vulnerable to contamination in laboratory environment. Inner as well as outer surface of the tube could be changed to be hydrophilic if the plasma contained oxygen. As a result, initial hydrodynamic resistance was reduced. The surface modification did not give any bad influence on mechanical properties of the silicone tube in most cases. Rather, some properties such as Young's modulus, ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break were improved.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2022

Fast-paced industrial and agricultural development generates large quantities of hazardous heavy metals (HMs), which are extremely damaging to individuals and the environment. Research in both academia and industry has been spurred by the need for HMs to be removed from water bodies. Advanced materials are being developed to replace existing water purification technologies or to introduce cutting-edge solutions that solve challenges such as cost efficacy, easy production, diverse metal removal, and regenerability. Water treatment industries are increasingly interested in activated carbon because of its high adsorption capacity for HMs adsorption. Furthermore, because of its huge surface area, abundant functional groups on surface, and optimal pore diameter, the modified activated carbon has the potential to be used as an efficient adsorbent. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a novel organic-inorganic hybrid porous materials, sparked an interest in the elimination of HMs via adsorption. This is due to the their highly porous nature, large surface area, abundance of exposed adsorptive sites, and post-synthetic modification (PSM) ability. This review introduces PSM methods for MOFs, chemical modification of activated carbons (ACs), and current advancements in the elimination of Pb²⁺, Hg²⁺, and Cd²⁺ ions from water using modified MOFs and ACs via adsorption.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.837-845
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• 2016

A novel endodextranase isolated from Paenibacillus sp. was found to produce isomaltotetraose and small amounts of cycloisomaltooligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization of 7-14 from dextran. To determine the active site, the enzyme was modified with 1-ethyl-3-[3-(dimethylamino)-propyl]-carbodiimide (EDC) and α-epoxyalkyl α-glucosides (EAGs), an affinity labeling reagent. The inactivation followed pseudo first-order kinetics. Kinetic analysis and chemical modification using EDC and EAGs indicated that carboxyl groups are essential for the enzymatic activity. Three Asp and one Glu residues were identified as candidate catalytic amino acids, since these residues are completely conserved across the GH family of 66 enzymes. Replacement of Asp189, Asp340, or Glu412 completely abolished the enzyme activity, indicating that these residues are essential for catalytic activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.419-426
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• 2010

Aeromonas hydrophila is a bacterial pathogen that infects a large number of eukaryotes, including humans. The UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GalE) catalyzes interconversion of UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose and plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis. This makes it an important virulence determinant, and therefore a potential drug target. Our earlier studies revealed that unlike other GalEs, GalE of A. hydrophila exists as a monomer. This uniqueness necessitated elucidation of its structure and active site. Chemical modification of the 6xHis-rGalE demonstrated the role of histidine residue in catalysis and that it did not constitute the substrate binding pocket. Loss of the 6xHis-rGalE activity and coenzyme fluorescence with thiol modifying reagents established the role of two distinct vicinal thiols in catalysis. Chemical modification studies revealed arginine to be essential for catalysis. Site-directed mutagenesis indicated Tyr149 and Lys153 to be involved in catalysis. Use of glycerol as a cosolvent enhanced the GalE thermostability significantly.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.321-326
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• 1996

Spinach glycolate oxidase was subjected to a series of chemical modifications aimed at identifying amino acid residues essential for catalytic activity. The oxidase was reversibly inactivated by treatment with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP). The inactivation by PLP was accompanied by the appearance of an absorption peak of around 430 nm, which was shifted to 325 nm upon reduction with $NaBH_4$. After reduction, the PLP-treated oxidase showed a fluorescence spectrum with a maximum of around 395 nm by exciting at 325 nm. The substrate-competitive inhibitors oxalate and oxaloacetate provided protection against inactivation of the oxidase by PLP. These results suggest that PLP inactivates the enzyme by fonning a Schiff base with lysyl residue(s) at an active site of the oxidase. The enzyme was also inactivated by tryptophan-specific reagent N-bromosuccinimide (NBS). However, competitive inhibitors oxalate and oxaloacetate could not protect the oxidase significantly against inactivation of the enzyme by NBS. The results implicate that the inactivation of the oxidase by NBS is not directly related to modification of the tryptophanyl residue at an active site of the enzyme. Treatments of the oxidase with cysteine-specific reagents iodoacetate, silver nitrate, and 5,5'-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid did not affect significantly the activity of the enzyme.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 1997

Since there are three hydroxyl groups on each anhydroglucose ring of the cellulose, the renewable resources, we can get various functional papers by the chemical modification of cellulose. The reaction involving the introduction of the ${\beta}$-cyanoethyl ($-CH_2-CH_2$-CN) group into organic substances containing reactive hydrogen atoms is known as cyanoethylation. Cellulose reacts with acrylonitrile in the presence of strong alkalis in a typical manner of primary and secondary alcohols to form cyanoethyl ethers. In cyanoethylation, important factors of reaction are temperature, concentration of the NaOH, and addition rate of acrylronitrile. FT-IR spectra of cyanoethyl group was confirmed at $2250cm^{-1}$, which corresponds the introduction of aliphatic nitrile group. Effect of cyanoethyl DS(degree of substitution) on strength properties was resulted that cyanoethylated BKP of DS 0.04 appeared to be the best choice for overall strength properties. Also, excellent thermal stability in aging characteristics was obtained.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2001

To evaluate the non-ionic polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), as a component in cationic copolymers for non-viral gene delivery systems, PEG was coupled to polyethylenimine (PEI). We present the effects of different degrees and shapes of pegylation of PEI on cytotoxicity, water solubility and transfection efficiency. This work reports the synthesis and characterization of a series of cationic copolymers on the basis of the conjugates of PEI with PEG. The modified molecules were significantly less toxic than the original polymer. Moreover, the chemical modification led to enhancement of their solubility. The comparison of pegylated PEIs with different degrees of derivation showed that all the polymers tested reached comparable levels of transgene expression to that of native PEI. As assessed by agarose gel electrophoresis, even highly substituted PEI derivatives were still able to form polyionic complexes with DNA. However, aside from an increase in solubility and retention of the ability to condense DNA, methoxy-PEG-modified PEIs resulted in a significant decrease in the transfection activity of the DNA complexes. In fact, the efficiency of the copolymer was compromised even at a low degree of modification suggesting that the PEG action resulting from its shape is important for efficient gene transfer. The mode of PEG grafting and the degree of modification influenced the transfection efficiency of PEI.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1300-1305
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• 2018

The tunable electronic performance of the solution-processed semiconductor metal oxide is of great significance for the printing electronics. In current work, transparent thin-film transistors (TFTs) with indium-zinc oxide (IZO) were fabricated as active layer by a simple eco-friendly aqueous route. The aqueous precursor solution is composed of water without any other organic additives and the IZO films are amorphous revealed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). With systematic studies of atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and the semiconductor property characterizations, it was revealed that the electrical performance of the IZO TFTs is dependent on the concentration of precursor solution. As well, the optimum preparation process was obtained. The concentrations induced the regulation of the electronic performance was clearly demonstrated with a proposed mechanism. The results are expected to be beneficial for development of solution-processed metal oxide TFTs.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

In this review, surface modification methods of hydrophobic poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) membrane are introduced and their improved hydrophilicity results are discussed. Fluoropolymer based membranes, represented by PTFE membranes have been used in various membrane separation processes, including membrane distillation, oil separation and gas separation. However, despite excellent physical properties such as chemical resistance, heat resistance and high mechanical strength, the strong hydrophobicity of PTFE membrane surface has become a challenging factor in expanding its membrane separation application. To improve the separation performance of PTFE membranes, wet chemical, hydrophilic coating, plasma, irradiation and atomic layer deposition are applied, modifying the surface property of PTFE membranes while maintaining their inherent properties.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.384-390
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• 2004

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been chemically modified through the formation of carboxylic acid functionalities or by grafting octadecylamine and polystyrene onto them. We purified SWNTs with nitric acid to remove some remaining catalysts and amorphous carbon materials. After purification, we broke the carbon nanotubes and shortened their lengths by using a 3:1 mixture of concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid. During these purification and cutting processes, carboxylic acid units formed at the open ends of the SWNTs. Octa-decylamine and amino-terminated polystyrene were grafted onto the cut SWNTs by condensation reactions between the amine and carboxylic acid units. The cut SWNTs did not disperse in organic solvents, but the octadecylamine-grafted and polystyrene-grafted SWNTs dispersed well in dichloromethane and aromatic solvents (e.g., benzene, toluene). Composites were prepared by mixing polystyrene with the octadecylamine-grafted or polystyrene-grafted SWNTs. Each composite had a higher dynamic storage modulus than that of a pristine polystyrene. The composites exhibited enhanced storage moduli, complex viscosities, and unusual non-terminal behavior when compared with a monodisperse polystyrene matrix because of the good dispersion of carbon nanotubes in the polystyrene matrix.