The ability of Ce-containing bioactive glasses to inhibit oxidative stress in terms of reduction of hydrogen peroxide, by mimicking the catalase enzyme activity is demonstrated here for the first time. The antioxidant properties of three bioactive glasses containing an increasing amount of CeO2 have been evaluated by following the degradation of hydrogen peroxide with time after immersion in H2O2 aqueous solutions with different concentration. XPS and UV-vis measurements allowed us to determine the Ce(3+)/Ce(4+) ratio in the bulk and on the glass surface, and to correlate it with the ability of the samples to show catalase mimetic activity. Interestingly, we have found that the bioactive glass with composition 23.2Na2O-25.7CaO-43.4SiO2-2.4P2O5-5.3CeO2 immersed in 0.1 M H2O2 aqueous solution is able to degrade 90% of it in 1 week. The reduction in bioactivity of the glasses with increasing CeO2 content is here rationalized in terms of a lower amount of phosphate groups available for the hydroxyapatite layer formation, after binding with cerium ions. In fact, classical molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the addition of CeO2 leads to the formation of cerium phosphate rich regions. The formation of an insoluble CePO4 crystalline phase is also observed by XRD analysis after thermal treatment of the glass samples.

Classical molecular dynamics simulations, density functional theory calculations, and spin-effective Hamiltonians have been used to simulate the 17O MAS and 3QMAS NMR spectra of Ca−Na silicate and aluminosilicate glasses and melts employed as simplified models for basaltic, andesitic, and rhyolitic magmas. The direct comparison of the theoretical NMR spectra of molecular dynamics derived structural models with the experimental counterparts available in the literature has allowed the investigation of the nature of nonframework cation mixing and the extent of intermixing among framework units in Na−Ca aluminosilicate glasses. In particular, in agreement with previous experimental evidence, the results show a nonrandomdistribution of the network-modifying Ca and Na in soda-lime glasses with the prevalence of dissimilar Na−Ca pairs around nonbridging oxygens. The oxygen sites are not completely resolved in the MAS spectra of the aluminosilicate glasses. On the contrary, in the 17O 3QMAS spectra the multiple oxygen sites, in particular the Si−O−Si,Al−O−Al, Al−O−Si, and the nonbridging oxygen peaks, are distinguishable. The small amount of Al−O−Al sites found in theinvestigated glasses reveals that the Al avoidance rule is not respected in amorphous solids. The Si−O−Al sites are surrounded byNa ions, which play a preferential role as a charge-balancing cation, while Ca can act as a network-modifying cation. Finally, correlations between the structural characteristic and the values of the NMR parameters have been attempted with the aim of helping the interpretation of NMR spectra of glasses with similar compositions

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The local and medium-range structure of the 20CaO·20Al2O3·60SiO2 glass generated by classical molecular dynamics simulations has been compared to NMR experiments by computing the 27Al and 17O NMR parameters and NMR spectra from first-principles simulations. The calculation of the NMR parameters (chemical shielding and quadrupolar parameters), which are then used to simulate solid-state MAS and 3QMAS NMR spectra, is achieved by the gauge including projector augmented-wave and the projector augmented-wave methods on the DFT-PBE relaxed structure. The NMR spectra calculated with the present approach are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data, providing an unambiguous view of the local and medium-range structure of aluminosilicate glasses