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A novel combination of mechanochemical and sonochemical techniques was developed to produce high-surface-area, bio-based calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles from eggshells. Size reduction of eggshell achieved via mechanochemical and followed by sonochemical method. First, eggshells were cleaned and ground, then ball milled in wet condition using polypropylene glycol for ten hours to produce fine particles. The ball milled eggshell particles were then irradiated with a high intensity ultrasonic horn (Ti-horn, 20 kHz, and 100 W/cm(2)) in the presence of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF); decahydronaphthalene (Decalin); or tetrahydrofuran (THF). The ultrasonic irradiation times varied from 1 to 5 h. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies showed that the resultant particle shapes and sizes were different from each solvent. The sonochemical effect of DMF is more pronounced and the particles were irregular platelets of ~10 nm. The BET surface area (43.687 m(2)/g) of these nanoparticles is much higher than that of other nanoparticles derived from eggshells.

Abstract. Efavirenz (EFV) is an oral antihuman immunodeficiency virus type 1 drug with extremely poor aqueous solubility. Thus, its gastrointestinal absorption is limited by the dissolution rate of the drug. The objective of this study was to characterize the inclusion complexes of EFV with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), hydroxypropyl β-CD (HPβCD), and randomly methylated β-CD (RMβCD) to improve the solubility and dissolution of EFV. The inclusion complexation of EFV with cyclodextrins in the liquid state was characterized by phase solubility studies. The solid-state characterization of various EFV and CD systems was performed by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Dissolution studies were carried out in distilled water using US Pharmacopeia dissolution rate testing equipment. Phase solubility studies provided an A L -type solubility diagram for β-CD and A P -type solubility diagram for HPβCD and RMβCD. The phase solubility data enabled calculating stability constants (K s ) for EFV-βCD, EFV-HPβCD, and EFV-RMβCD systems which were 288, 469, and 1,073 M −1 , respectively. The physical and kneaded mixtures of EFV with CDs generally provided higher dissolution of EFV as expected. The dissolution of EFV was substantially higher with HPβCD and RMβCD inclusion complexes prepared by the freeze drying method. Thus, complexation with HPβCD and RMβCD could possibly improve the dissolution rate-limited absorption of EFV.

We report a method to fabricate carbon nanotube reinforced Nylon filaments through an extrusion process. In this process, Nylon 6 and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are first dry mixed and then extruded in the form of continuous filaments by a single screw extrusion method. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies have indicated that there is a moderate increase in Tg without a discernible shift in the melting endotherm. Tensile tests on single filaments have demonstrated that Young’s modulus and strength of the nanophased filaments have increased by 220% and 164%, respectively with the addition of only 1wt.% MWCNTs. SEM studies and micromechanics based calculations have shown that the alignment of MWCNTs in the filaments, and high interfacial shear strength between the matrix and the nanotube reinforcement was responsible for such a dramatic improvement in properties.