To endow hydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes with reliable hydrophilicity and protein resistance, an amphiphilic hyperbranched-star polymer (HPE-g-MPEG) with about 12 hydrophilic arms in each molecule was synthesized by grafting methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG) to the hyperbranched polyester (HPE) molecule using terephthaloyl chloride (TPC) as the coupling agent and blended with PVDF to fabricate porous membranes via phase inversion process. The chemical composition changes of the membrane surface were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the membrane morphologies were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Water contact angle, static protein adsorption, and filtration experiments were used to evaluate the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties of the membranes. It was found that MPEG segments of HPE-g-MPEG enriched at the membrane surface substantially, while the water contact angle decreased as low as 49 degrees for the membrane with a HPE-g-MPEG/PVDF ratio of 3/10. More importantly, the water contact angle of the blend membrane changed little after being leached continuously in water at 60 degrees C for 30 days, indicating a quite stable presence of HPE-g-MPEG in the blend membranes. Furthermore, the blend membranes showed lower static protein adsorption, higher water and protein solution fluxes, and better water flux recovery after cleaning than the pure PVDF membrane.

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Platycodin D (PD) is the active metabolite of Platycodon grandiflorum. The main purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a water‐in‐oil (W/O) microemulsion formulation of PD (PD‐ME). The PD‐ME was successfully prepared by the water titration method at K m = 2, to draw the pseudoternary phase diagrams. Physical characterization including the particle size, pH, refractive index, average viscosity, and polydispersity index (PDI) was performed. The in vivo characteristics were evaluated by intestinal permeability and pharmacokinetic studies. The optimized microemulsion formulation consisted of 100 mg/ml PD aqueous solution, soybean phospholipids, ethanol, and oleic acid (27:39:19:15, w/w). The average viscosity, pH, droplet size, PDI, and zeta potential of the PD‐ME were 78.65 ± 0.13 cPa•s, 5.70 ± 0.05, 30.46 ± 0.20 nm, 0.33 ± 0.00, and −3.13 mV, respectively. The drug concentration of the PD‐ME was 26.3 ± 0.6 mg/ml. The PD‐ME showed significantly higher apparent permeability coefficients than PD (p < .01). The pharmacokinetic studies showed that the PD‐ME had significantly higher values of T 1/2 (2.26‐fold), AUC0–24h (area under the curve; 1.65‐fold), and MRT0–24h (1.58‐fold) than PD (p < .01). It can be seen that W/O ME presents a strategy with great promise for enhancing the intestinal permeability and better oral absorption of drugs with high polarity and poor permeability.

Textile industry is one of the most significant worldwide water pollution sources. With the increased demand for textile products, the textile industry and its wastewater have been increasing proportionally. Microcapsule has remarkable advantages in engineering application for pollutants removal as encapsulation agent of nanoparticles (NPs) to drastically reduce the risk associated to nanotoxicity when it is in direct contact with surroundings. This work primarily focuses on the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles augmented microcapsule in which role of temperature and initial pH was studied in relation to Fenton reaction of Methylene Blue dye. It is observed that high removal efficiency of the dye could be achieved with high temperature whereas highly acidic and alkaline condition could enhance degradation rate. The inherent catalytic and magnetic properties exhibited by Fe0/iron oxides NPs-PVDF microcapsules, compared to conventional activated carbon based absorbent, make them an attractive candidate to remove cationic dye from aqueous environment.