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Nanostructures for Information & Bio Technologies
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Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Information Technology and Biotechnology
Paras N Prasad
University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
Buffalo, New York 14260-3000, USA
This talk will highlight the on-going nanomaterials program at the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics which is a multidisciplinary research center involving a highly interactive team of chemists, physicists and Engineers and Biomedical Researchers.
The research is focused on multiscale modeling and development of multifunctional nanomaterials. These materials are organics, dendrimers, supramolecules, biomaterials, inorganic semiconductors and inorganic glasses. A major emphasis is on nanostructured hybrid materials. Some examples are inorganic oxide glass: organic polymer composites, inorganic quantum dots: organic polymer nanocomposites, polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and photonic crystals. The functionalities targeted are photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, and biological. The areas covered are 1) multiphoton processes, 2) nonlinear optical processes, 3) nanophotonics, 4) nanomagnetics, 5) biophotonics, and 6) nanomedicine. Examples of designed multifunctionalities to simultaneously achieve more than one functionality or to derive a new feature from combined functionalities to cover these properties will be discussed. The approach of our Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics involves theoretical modeling, materials synthesis, characterization and developing new applications. Our institute has extensive facilities in lasers, materials processing and characterization, optical characterization, engineered device fabrication, and biomedical studies. A new and exciting direction is nanomedicine which involves a nanoparticle platform and nanoprobes for new generation diagnostics and therapies. We conduct both in vitro cellular studies as well as in vivo animal studies.
Our Institute has also placed a strong emphasis on International collaboration. Examples of international collaboration with the Middle East region, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Korea will be presented. We believe that the Middle East is an important region where their strength in modeling and materials development can complement with characterization and new applications being pursued in the US and other countries. The modes of international collaboration we have involved are exchange visits of researchers, joint training of students, and organizations of workshops.
Self-Assembly of DNA Nanostructures
Chengde Mao
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
Structural control at the nanometer scale is key to the development of nanotechnology. Supramolecular self-assembly is one promising approach to achieve this goal. Among many self-assembly molecular systems, DNA stands out as one of the best choices. Because DNA is the universal genetic materials, its structure and physical/chemical properties have been extensively studied, and a rich array of manipulation tools have been developed. DNA has excellent molecular recognition capability. Its structure can be precisely predicted. And branched DNA motifs have also been constructed. Combining all these factors together, DNA-based nanostructures have been rapidly developed. Here, the discussion focuses on the recent development of DNA nanostructures in my group: (1) static structures, (2) dynamic structures, and (3) conversion of DNA structures into metallic structures.
Three Arm Star homo- and block co-polymers via atom transfer radical polymerization
A. Amin, R. Sobh, M. M. H. Ayoub
Polymers and Pigments Department, National Research Center, Dokki,
Cairo, Egypt.
E-mail: aamin_98@yahoo.com
Star homopolymers of some vinyl monomers such as methyl methacrylate, n-butyl methacrylate and styrene (MMA, nBMA, St.) were prepared by using N, N,N’N’- tetramethylethylenediamine ligand/ CuBr catalytic system via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Three armed benzene based core was successfully used as initiator. Low polydispersities and regular molecular weight values were obtained in most cases especially at low conversions. MMA and BuMA showed comparable behavior where controlled and true ATRP was observed even at the high conversions. However, styrene monomer recorded irregular high polydispersities at high conversions inspite of the relatively low molecular weight values. Some block copolymers were obtained using MMA homopolymer as macroinitiator with the same strategy of ATRP. 1HNMR confirmed the structures of the resulting polymers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) proved the nano-structure of the star polymers. The thermal behavior of the MMA star homo and copolymers was studied. The effect of the star shape on thermal behavior was very clear with respect to the linear ones.
Key words: Star polymers, MMA, n-BMA, Styrene, thermal behavior, nano-structure.
