Materials and Technologies to Combat Counterfeiting of Pharmaceuticals: Current and Future Problem Tackling

Application of stealth nanobeacon for traceability assurance in pharmaceutical tablets via surface-enhanced Raman scattering during the tablet coating process

Microtaggant technologies for on-dose authentication have garnered significant interest for use in the anti-counterfeit activities and traceability of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Previously, we proposed a stealth nanobeacon (NB) comprising self-assembled colloidal gold nanoparticles with reporter molecules that demonstrated characteristic surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. However, the integration of such microtaggants into standard production lines remains underexplored. In this study, we demonstrate the incorporation of NB into tablet coatings using a simple mixing method with conventional coating solutions. Rapid and discernible SERS responses from the NB-coated tablets were observed in response to laser excitation at 785 nm for 0.1s, implying that it is an advanced and efficient method for counterfeit detection. In addition, the SERS intensity of NB increased with coating time, suggesting that NB can be used as a tracer for the real-time monitoring of coating thickness. Furthermore, NB-coated tablets were indistinguishable from NB-free tablets, even during colorimetric analysis. These results suggest that the NB possesses stealth properties and can be easily incorporated into counterfeit detection products.

A superstable sandwich-type composite of a single-benzene-based fluorophore and chitosan as a fluorescent authentication barcode

Management of diseases through medication accounts for the largest portion of treatment, with people worldwide relying on a variety of medicines to treat and prevent minor to severe diseases in modern society. However, the recent increased use of counterfeit medicines rather than certified medication has emerged as a serious social concern. This study introduces a new hybrid material, named SBBF-chitosan (SC), which integrates a single-benzene-based fluorophore (SBBF) and chitosan, serving as a fluorescence-based authentication barcode for certified medication. The synthesis and characterization of SC, along with an analysis of its photophysical properties, were systematically conducted. SC demonstrated bright emission with high stability under various environmental conditions. In vitro analyses and in vivo animal experiment results further indicated the safety of SC for oral intake, even when directly incorporated into medicines. We are confident that this newly developed formulation SC provides a fundamental solution to address the challenges posed by counterfeit medicines, thereby safeguarding medication authenticity.

Multilevel Anti-counterfeiting Barcode with Enhanced Information Encryption Based on Stimulus-Responsive Digital Polymers

In response to the escalating challenges of counterfeiting due to technological and socioeconomic advancements, a novel trilevel anti-counterfeiting Quick Response (QR) code system has been developed. This system integrates digital polymers with QR code and stimulus-responsive chromophores, i.e., rhodamine B (RB), rhodamine 6G (R6G), and spiropyran (SP), to provide a sophisticated security solution. This advanced barcode remains concealed until specific stimuli reveal it and can be scanned by a smartphone, enabling first and second level anti-counterfeiting. For the third level of security, the encrypted information within the digital polymers can only be deciphered using tandem mass spectrometry. This innovative approach not only enhances security features but also offers reversible visibility and a complex verification process. This trilevel system surpasses traditional single-level anti-counterfeiting methods and holds significant potential for future applications in protecting brand authenticity and managing data storage, contributing new concepts and techniques to the field of high-security anti-counterfeiting materials.

Uncovering the Recent Progress of CNC-Derived Chirality Nanomaterials: Structure and Functions

Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), as a renewable resource, with excellent mechanical performance, low thermal expansion coefficient, and unique optical performance, is becoming a novel candidate for the development of smart material. Herein, the recent progress of CNC-based chirality nanomaterials is uncovered, mainly covering structure regulations and function design. Undergoing a simple evaporation process, the cellulose nanorods can spontaneously assemble into chiral nematic films, accompanied by a vivid structural color. Various film structure-controlling strategies, including assembly means, physical modulation, additive engineering, surface modification, geometric structure regulation, and external field optimization, are summarized in this work. The intrinsic correlation between structure and performance is emphasized. Next, the applications of CNC-based nanomaterials is systematically reviewed. Layer-by-layer stacking structure and unique optical activity endow the nanomaterials with wide applications in the mineralization, bone regeneration, and synthesis of mesoporous materials. Besides, the vivid structural color broadens the functions in anti-counterfeiting engineering, synthesis of the shape-memory and self-healing materials. Finally, the challenges for the CNC-based nanomaterials are proposed.

Spatially and Temporally Programmable Transparency Evolutions in Hydrogels Enabled by Metal Coordination toward Transient Anticounterfeiting

Hydrogels have emerged as promising candidates for anticounterfeiting materials, owing to their unique stimulus-responsive capabilities. To improve the security of encrypted information, efforts are devoted to constructing transient anticounterfeiting hydrogels with a dynamic information display. However, current studies to design such hydrogel materials inevitably include sophisticated chemistry, complex preparation processes, and particular experimental setups. Herein, a facile strategy is proposed to realize the transient anticounterfeiting by constructing bivalent metal (M2+)-coordination complexes in poly(acrylic acid) gels, where the cloud temperature (Tc) of the gels can be feasibly tuned by M2+ concentration. Therefore, the multi-Tc parts in the gel can be locally programmed by leveraging the spatially selective diffusion of M2+ with different concentrations. With the increase of temperature or the addition of a complexing agent, the transparency of the multi-Tc parts in the gel spontaneously evolves in natural light, enabling the transient information anticounterfeiting process. This work has provided a new strategy and mechanism to fabricate advanced anticounterfeiting hydrogel materials.

Advanced detection tools in food fraud: A systematic review for holistic and rational detection method based on research and patents

Modern food chain supply management necessitates the dire need for mitigating food fraud and adulterations. This holistic review addresses different advanced detection technologies coupled with chemometrics to identify various types of adulterated foods. The data on research, patent and systematic review analyses (2018-2023) revealed both destructive and non-destructive methods to demarcate a rational approach for food fraud detection in various countries. These intricate hygiene standards and AI-based technology are also summarized for further prospective research. Chemometrics or AI-based techniques for extensive food fraud detection are demanded. A systematic assessment reveals that various methods to detect food fraud involving multiple substances need to be simple, expeditious, precise, cost-effective, eco-friendly and non-intrusive. The scrutiny resulted in 39 relevant experimental data sets answering key questions. However, additional research is necessitated for an affirmative conclusion in food fraud detection system with modern AI and machine learning approaches.

Water-sensitive fluorescent microgel inks to produce verifiable information for highly secured anti-counterfeiting

The decryption and verification of encrypted information via a simple and efficient method is always difficult and challenging in the field of information security. Herein, a series of water-sensitive fluorescent microgels are fabricated for highly secured anti-counterfeiting with authenticity identification. The initial negatively charged microgels (MG) are made up of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM), acrylic acid (AAc) and anthracen-9-yl acrylate (9-ANA, blue fluorescent monomer). The prepared MGs can bind cationic fluorescent dyes such as 5-aminofluorescein (FITC, green fluorescent dye) and rhodamine B (Rh B, red fluorescent dye) via electrostatic interaction, emitting multi-fluorescent colors based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process. Furthermore, the fluorescence colors of MG-derived systems can be rapidly changed by swelling in water, which can block the FRET process and change the aggregation state of dyes. With the assistance of inkjet printing, multi-color security patterns can be designed and encoded, which can be revealed by UV irradiation and further verified by water stimulation. This study has pioneered a novel strategy to verify the authenticity of decrypted information, which greatly improves the security level of information.

Robust Optical Physical Unclonable Function Based on Total Internal Reflection for Portable Authentication

Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) utilize uncontrollable manufacturing randomness to yield cryptographic primitives. Currently, the fabrication of the most generally employed optical PUFs mainly depends on fluorescent, Raman, or plasmonic materials, which suffer inherent robustness issues. Herein, we construct an optical PUF with high environmental stability via total internal reflection (TIR-PUF) perturbed by randomly distributed polymer microspheres. The response image is transformed into encoded keys via an iterative binning procedure. The concentration of the polymer solution is optimized to debias the bit nonuniformity and maximize encoding capacity. The constructed TIR-PUF shows significantly high encoding capacity (2370) and markedly low total authentication error probability (1.614 × 10-23). The intra-Hamming distance is as low as 0.068, indicating the excellent readout reliability of TIR-PUF. The environmental stability of TIR-PUF has demonstrated promising results under a range of challenging conditions such as ultrasonic washing, high temperature, ultraviolet irradiation, and severe chemical environments. Moreover, the challenge-response pairs of our TIR-PUFs are demonstrated on an authentication system with low-power dissipation, lightweight components, and wireless imaging capture, rendering the possibility of portable authentication for practical applications.

Fluorescent Materials Based on Spiropyran for Advanced Anti-Counterfeiting and Information Encryption

In daily life, counterfeit and substandard products, particularly currency, medicine, food, and confidential documents, are capable of bringing about very serious consequences. The development of anti-counterfeiting and authentication technologies with multilevel securities is a powerful means to overcome this challenge. Among various anti-counterfeiting technologies, fluorescent anti-counterfeiting technology is well-known and commonly used to fight counterfeiters due to its wide material source, low cost, simple usage, good concealment, and simple response mechanism. Spiropyran is favored by scientists in the fields of anti-counterfeiting and information encryption due to its reversible photochromic property. Here, we summarize the current available spiropyran-based fluorescent materials from design to anti-counterfeiting applications. This review will be help scientists to design and develop fluorescent anti-counterfeiting materials with high security, high performance, quick response, and high anti-counterfeiting level.

Rewritable Photoluminescence and Structural Color Display for Dual-Responsive Optical Encryption

Optical encryption using coloration and photoluminescent (PL) materials can provide highly secure data protection with direct and intuitive identification of encrypted information. Encryption capable of independently controlling wavelength-tunable coloration as well as variable light intensity PL is not adequately demonstrated yet. Herein, a rewritable PL and structural color (SC) display suitable for dual-responsive optical encryption developed with a stimuli-responsive SC of a block copolymer (BCP) photonic crystal (PC) with alternating in-plane lamellae, of which a variety of 3D and 2D perovskite nanocrystals is preferentially self-assembled with characteristic PL, is presented. The SC of a BCP PC is controlled in the visible range with different perovskite precursor doping times. The perovskite nanocrystals developed in the BCP PC are highly luminescent, with a PL quantum yield of ≈33.7%, yielding environmentally stable SC and PL dual-mode displays. The independently programmed SC and PL information is erasable and rewritable. Dual-responsive optical encryption is demonstrated, in which true Morse code information is deciphered only when the information encoded by SCs is properly combined with PL information. Numerous combinations of SC and PL realize high security level of data anticounterfeiting. This dual-mode encryption display offers novel optical encryption with high information security and anti-counterfeiting.

Mitigating the impact of gelatin capsule variability on detection of substandard and falsified pharmaceuticals with near-IR spectroscopy

Portable NIR spectrometers are effective in detecting authentic pharmaceutical products in intact capsule formulations, which can be used to screen for substandard or falsified versions of those authentic products. However, the chemometric models are trained on libraries of authentic products, and are generally unreliable for detection of quality problems in products from outside their training set, even for products that are nominally the same active pharmaceutical ingredient and same dosage as products in the training set. As part of our research directed at developing better non-brand-specific strategies for pharmaceutical screening, we investigated the impact of capsule composition on NIR modeling. We found that capsule features like gelatin type, color, or thickness, give rise to a similar amount of variance in the NIR spectra as the type of API stored within the capsules. Our results highlight the efficacy of orthogonal projection to latent structures in mitigating the impacts of different types of capsules on the accuracy of NIR chemometric models for classification and regression analysis of lab-made samples. The models showed good performance for classification of field-collected doxycycline capsules as good or bad quality when an NIR-based % w/w metric was used, identifying five samples that were adulterated with talc. However, the % w/w was systematically underestimated, so when evaluating the capsules based on their absolute API content according to the monograph standard, the classification accuracy decreased from 100% to 70%. The underestimation was attributed to an unforeseen variability in the quantities and types of excipients present in the capsules.

Time-traceable micro-taggants for anti-counterfeiting and secure distribution of food and medicines

This study presents an innovative solution for the enhanced tracking and security of pharmaceuticals through the development of microstructures incorporating environmentally responsive, coded microparticles. Utilizing maskless photolithography, we engineered these microparticles with a degradable masking layer with 30 μm thickness that undergoes controlled dissolution. Quantitative analysis revealed that the protective layer's degradation, monitored by red fluorescence intensity, diminishes predictably over 144 h in phosphate-buffered saline under physiological conditions. This degradation not only confirms the microparticles' integrity but also allows the extraction of encoded information, which can serve as a robust indicator of medicinal shelf life and a deterrent to tampering. These findings indicate the potential for applying this technology in real-time monitoring of pharmaceuticals, ensuring quality and authenticity in the supply chain.

Inkjet Printing of Pharmaceuticals

Inkjet printing (IJP) is an additive manufacturing process that selectively deposits ink materials, layer-by-layer, to create 3D objects or 2D patterns with precise control over their structure and composition. This technology has emerged as an attractive and versatile approach to address the ever-evolving demands of personalized medicine in the healthcare industry. Although originally developed for nonhealthcare applications, IJP harnesses the potential of pharma-inks, which are meticulously formulated inks containing drugs and pharmaceutical excipients. Delving into the formulation and components of pharma-inks, the key to precise and adaptable material deposition enabled by IJP is unraveled. The review extends its focus to substrate materials, including paper, films, foams, lenses, and 3D-printed materials, showcasing their diverse advantages, while exploring a wide spectrum of therapeutic applications. Additionally, the potential benefits of hardware and software improvements, along with artificial intelligence integration, are discussed to enhance IJP's precision and efficiency. Embracing these advancements, IJP holds immense potential to reshape traditional medicine manufacturing processes, ushering in an era of medical precision. However, further exploration and optimization are needed to fully utilize IJP's healthcare capabilities. As researchers push the boundaries of IJP, the vision of patient-specific treatment is on the horizon of becoming a tangible reality.

Western blotting: evolution of an old analytical method to a new quantitative tool for biomarker measurements

Western blotting (WB) is a widely used laboratory technique for detecting specific proteins in biological matrices. Recent advances in antibody production, automation, gel and membrane manufacturing and highly sensitive detection platforms have transformed WB from a labor-intensive and qualitative method into a highly reproducible and quantitative assay suitable for biomarker detection. Despite these significant improvements in the capabilities and efficiency of WB, there remain challenges that hinder its widespread application as a research, diagnostic (in two-tiered assays like Lyme disease testing) and drug development tool. This article describes recent innovations introduced to WB methodology and the remaining challenges that prevent its wider adoption for biomarker measurements throughout the drug development process.

Multicolor Fluorescent Inks Based on Lanthanide Hybrid Organogels for Anticounterfeiting and Logic Circuit Design

With the rapid development of information technology, the encrypted storage of information is becoming increasingly important for human life. The luminescent materials with a color-changed response under physical or chemical stimuli are crucial for information coding and anticounterfeiting. However, traditional fluorescent materials usually face problems such as a lack of tunable fluorescence, insufficient surface-adaptive adhesion, and strict synthesis conditions, hindering their practical applications. Herein, a series of luminescent lanthanide hybrid organogels (Ln-MOGs) were rapidly synthesized using a simple method at room temperature through the coordination between lanthanide ions and 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid and 5-aminoisophthalic acid. And the multicolor fluorescent inks were also prepared based on the Ln-MOG and hyaluronic acid, with the advantages of being easy to write, color-adjustable, and water-responsive discoloration, which has been applied to paper-based anticounterfeiting technology. Inspired by the responsiveness of the fluorescent inks to water, we designed a logic system that can realize single-input logic operations (NOT and PASS1) and double-input logic operations (NAND, AND, OR, NOR, XOR). The encryption of a binary code can be actualized utilizing different luminescent response modes based on the logic circuit system. By adjusting the energy sensitization and luminescence mechanism of lanthanide ions in the gel structure, the information reading and writing ability of the fluorescent inks were verified, which has great potential in the field of multicolor pattern anticounterfeiting and information encryption.

Hidden imaging in thin polymer films with embedded fluorescent peptide nanodots

Fluorescent (FL) encrypting nanostructures, such as quantum dots, carbon dots, organic dyes, lanthanide nanocrystals, DNA, and more, are effective tools for advanced applications in high-resolution hidden imaging. These applications include tracking, labeling, security printing, and anti-counterfeiting drug technology. In this work, what we believe to be a new FL encoding nanostructures has been proposed, which consists of recently discovered nanometer-scale peptide dots. When refolded into a beta-sheet peptide secondary structure, these biocompatible nanoparticles exhibit a strong and tunable FL effect. The biophotonic FL covers the entire visible spectrum, making the peptide dots next-generation nanoscale light sources with a quantum yield of 30%. Our studies demonstrate that these FL bio-nanodots also exhibit a significant irreversible photo-bleaching effect associated with the light-induced destruction of noncovalent intermolecular hydrogen bonds of the peptide dots' highly stable beta-sheet secondary structure. We present what we believe is a new approach for achieving high-resolution long-term optical memory by tailoring various hidden images in the developed thin polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer films with an embedded dense array of FL peptide nanodots. The technology enables recording photo-bleached patterns, barcodes, and high-resolution images.

Biocompatible optical physically unclonable function hydrogel microparticles for on-dose authentication

On-dose authentication (ODA) enhances security by incorporating customized molecular or micro-tags into each pill, preventing counterfeit products in genuine packages. ODA's security relies on tag non-replication and non-reverse engineering. Combining ODA with graphical Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) promises maximum security. PUF uses intrinsic micro or nanoscale randomness as a unique 'fingerprint'. However, current graphical PUFs have limitations like specific illumination requirements and the use of toxic materials, restricting their use in pharmaceuticals. In this study, we propose a novel approach called on-dose PUF. This method involves embedding microspheres randomly within micro biocompatible hydrogel particles. We showcase two distinct types of such on-dose PUFs. The first type utilizes randomly distributed superparamagnetic colloids (SPC) of identical diameters, while the second type utilizes vortexed sunflower oil drops of various diameters. The diameter and coordinates of the microspheres serve as input for generating cryptographic keys. A universal circle identification and binning program is used for extracting this information. One advantage of this approach is that it enables imaging using white light illumination and low-magnification microscopy, as color and signal intensity information are not crucial. This method enables patients to verify their medication by using their mobile phones from home. To assess the performance of the proposed on-dose PUF, we conducted canonical investigations on the single-diameter system. This system can only generate one layer of cryptographic keys, making it potentially more vulnerable than the multiple-diameter system. However, the single-diameter system successfully passed NIST Statistical tests and exhibited sufficient randomness, ideal bit uniformity, Hamming distance, and device uniqueness. Furthermore, we found that the encoding capacity of the single-diameter system was 9.2 × 10 18 , providing ample labeling potential.

Light and Humidity Dual-Responsive Anti-Counterfeiting Films Based on Hydrogen-Bonded Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Polymers with Spiropyran

There is still significant room for improvement when combining structural color with fluorescence patterns in dual anti-counterfeiting and dynamic anti-counterfeiting labels. In this study, we achieved significant breakthroughs under dual anti-counterfeiting conditions by using the structural color properties of the hydrogen-bonded cholesteric liquid crystal (HBCLC) and combining them with the fluorescence dye spiropyran (SP) to create anti-counterfeiting patterns. The anti-counterfeiting label can only display storage information after meeting the conditions of humidity and ultraviolet light (UV) and has the functions of dynamic encryption and repeated reading. We adjusted the center of the reflection band of the HBCLC film to transition from red to infrared under 40-90% relative humidity (RH) conditions and used it as a background film to draw anti-counterfeiting patterns with SP. Since these fluorescence dyes can switch between merocyanine (MC) (red) and SP (colorless) under UV and visible light conditions, when combined with the HBCLC, orthogonal dynamic encryption was achieved. Additionally, with the adsorption of SP, the reflection band of HBCLC films under the same humidity range increased from around 160 nm to around 260 nm, greatly improving the sensitivity to humidity changes. Furthermore, under UV conditions, it can still emit red fluorescence, demonstrating a polymorphic encryption feature, which greatly increased the complexity of the anti-counterfeiting pattern with significant significance to dynamic anti-counterfeiting and information storage.

Dual-signalled magneto-optical barcodes with lanthanide-based molecular cluster-aggregates

A proof-of-concept for magneto-optical barcodes is demonstrated for the first time. The dual-signalled spectrum observed via magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy can be used to develop anti-counterfeiting materials with extra layers of security when compared with the widely studied luminescent barcodes.

Communicating Supraparticles to Enable Perceptual, Information-Providing Matter

Materials are the fundament of the physical world, whereas information and its exchange are the centerpieces of the digital world. Their fruitful synergy offers countless opportunities for realizing desired digital transformation processes in the physical world of materials. Yet, to date, a perfect connection between these worlds is missing. From the perspective, this can be achieved by overcoming the paradigm of considering materials as passive objects and turning them into perceptual, information-providing matter. This matter is capable of communicating associated digitally stored information, for example, its origin, fate, and material type as well as its intactness on demand. Herein, the concept of realizing perceptual, information-providing matter by integrating customizable (sub-)micrometer-sized communicating supraparticles (CSPs) is presented. They are assembled from individual nanoparticulate and/or (macro)molecular building blocks with spectrally differentiable signals that are either robust or stimuli-susceptible. Their combination yields functional signal characteristics that provide an identification signature and one or multiple stimuli-recorder features. This enables CSPs to communicate associated digital information on the tagged material and its encountered stimuli histories upon signal readout anywhere across its life cycle. Ultimately, CSPs link the materials and digital worlds with numerous use cases thereof, in particular fostering the transition into an age of sustainability.

Erasable, Rewritable, and Reprogrammable Dual Information Encryption Based on Photoluminescent Supramolecular Host-Guest Recognition and Hydrogel Shape Memory

Information encryption technologies are very important for security, health, commodity, and communications, etc. Novel information encryption mechanisms and materials are desired to achieve multimode and reprogrammable encryption. Here, a supramolecular strategy is demonstrated to achieve multimodal, erasable, reprogrammable, and reusable information encryption by reversibly modulating fluorescence. A butyl-naphthalimide with flexible ethylenediamine functionalized β-cyclodextrin (N-CD) is utilized as a fluorescent responsive ink for printing or patterning information on polymer brushes with dangling adamantane group grafted on responsive hydrogels. The photoluminescent naphthalimide moiety is bonded to β-CD and entrapped in the cavity. Its fluorescence is highly weakened in β-CD cavity and recovers after being expelled from the cavity by a competing guest molecule to emit bright green photoluminescence under UV. Experiments and theoretical calculations suggest π-π stacking and ICT as the primary mechanism for the naphthalimides assembly and fluorescence, which can be quenched through insertion of conjugated molecules and recover by removing the insert. Such reversible quenching and recovering are used to achieve repeated writing, erasing, and re-writing of information. Supramolecular recognition and hydrogel shape memory are further combined to achieve reversible dual-encryption. This study provides a novel strategy to develop smart materials with improved information security for broad applications.

Bio-Inspired Electro-Thermal-Hygro Responsive Rewritable Systems with Temporal/Spatial Control for Environment-Interactive Information Display

Utilization of rewritable luminescent materials for secure information storage and delivery has long been envisaged to reduce the cost and environmental wastes. However, it remains challenging to realize a temporally/spatially controlled display of the written information, which is crucial for secure information encryption. Here, inspired by bioelectricity-triggered skin pattern switching in cephalopods, an ideal rewritable system consisting of conductive graphene film and carbon dots (CDs) gel with blue-to-red fluorescence-color changes via water-triggered CDs aggregation and re-dispersion is presented. Its rewritability is guaranteed by using water ink to write on the CDs-gel and employing Joule heat of graphene film to evaporate water. Due to the highly controlled electrical stimulus, temporally/spatially controlled display is achieved, enabling on-demand delivery and duration time regulation of the written information. Furthermore, new-concept environment-interactive rewritable system is obtained by integrating sensitive acoustic/optical sensors and multichannel electronic time-delay devices. This work opens unprecedented avenues of rewritable systems and expands potential uses for information encryption/delivery.

Microcavity- and Microlaser-Based Optical Barcoding: A Review of Encoding Techniques and Applications

Optical microbarcodes have recently received a great deal of interest because of their suitability for a wide range of applications, such as multiplexed assays, cell tagging and tracking, anticounterfeiting, and product labeling. Spectral barcodes are especially promising because they are robust and have a simple readout. In addition, microcavity- and microlaser-based barcodes have very narrow spectra and therefore have the potential to generate millions of unique barcodes. This review begins with a discussion of the different types of barcodes and then focuses specifically on microcavity-based barcodes. While almost any kind of optical microcavity can be used for barcoding, currently whispering-gallery microcavities (in the form of spheres and disks), nanowire lasers, Fabry-Pérot lasers, random lasers, and distributed feedback lasers are the most frequently employed for this purpose. In microcavity-based barcodes, the information is encoded in various ways in the properties of the emitted light, most frequently in the spectrum. The barcode is dependent on the properties of the microcavity, such as the size, shape, and the gain materials. Various applications of these barcodes, including cell tracking, anticounterfeiting, and product labeling are described. Finally, the future prospects for microcavity- and microlaser-based barcodes are discussed.

Harnessing personalized tailored medicines to digital-based data-enriched edible pharmaceuticals

Tailoring drug products to personalized medicines poses challenges for conventional dosage forms. The prominent reason is the restricted availability of flexible dosage strengths in the market. Inappropriate dosage strengths lead to adverse drug reactions or compromised therapeutic effects. The situation worsens when the drug has a narrow therapeutic window. To overcome these challenges, data-enriched edible pharmaceuticals (DEEP) are novel concepts for designing solid oral products. DEEP have individualized doses and information embedded in quick response (QR) code form. When data are presented in a QR code, the information is printed with edible ink that contains the drug in tailored doses required for the patients.

Application of Nanomaterials in Stem Cell-Based Therapeutics for Cardiac Repair and Regeneration

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of disability and death worldwide. Although the survival rate of patients with heart diseases can be improved with contemporary pharmacological treatments and surgical procedures, none of these therapies provide a significant improvement in cardiac repair and regeneration. Stem cell-based therapies are a promising approach for functional recovery of damaged myocardium. However, the available stem cells are difficult to differentiate into cardiomyocytes, which result in the extremely low transplantation efficiency. Nanomaterials are widely used to regulate the myocardial differentiation of stem cells, and play a very important role in cardiac tissue engineering. This study discusses the current status and limitations of stem cells and cell-derived exosomes/micro RNAs based cardiac therapy, describes the cardiac repair mechanism of nanomaterials, summarizes the recent advances in nanomaterials used in cardiac repair and regeneration, and evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of the relevant nanomaterials. Besides discussing the potential clinical applications of nanomaterials in cardiac therapy, the perspectives and challenges of nanomaterials used in stem cell-based cardiac repair and regeneration are also considered. Finally, new research directions in this field are proposed, and future research trends are highlighted.

High-contrast reversible multiple color-tunable solid luminescent ionic polymers for dynamic multilevel anti-counterfeiting

Dynamic color-tunable luminescent materials, which possess huge potential applications in advanced multilevel luminescence anti-counterfeiting, are of considerable interest. However, it remains challenging to develop simple high-contrast reversible multiple (triple or more than triple) color-tunable high-efficiency solid luminescent materials with low cost, facile synthesis, and good processability. Herein, by simply grafting charged multi-color AIEgen-based chromophores into polymers, a series of high-efficiency multiple color-tunable luminescent single ionic polymers are constructed through tuning feed ratios, counter anions and reaction solvents. Remarkably, some ionic polymers can not only achieve rare high-contrast reversible multiple color-tunable emission in solid states in response to different solvent stimuli, but also could realize excitation-dependent color-tunable emission. To the best of our knowledge, such charming multiple (triple or more than triple) color-tunable solid polymers responding to multiple external stimuli are still rare. Based on comparative studies of emission spectra, excitation spectra and fluorescence lifetimes before and after swelling, it could be inferred that solvent stimuli could induce microstructure changes of these ionic polymers and then change the aggregated-states of their corresponding AIE-active emission centers. Moreover, the different solvent stimuli could induce to produce different degrees of microstructure changes, resulting in their unique multiple color-tunable emission. More significantly, these smart color-tunable ionic polymers show great promise for applications in dynamic multilevel (three-level or even more than three-level) anti-counterfeiting.

Reading Information Stored in Synthetic Macromolecules

The storage of information in synthetic (macro)molecules provides an attractive alternative for current archival storage media, and the advancements made within this area have prompted the investigation of such molecules for numerous other applications (e.g., anti-counterfeiting tags, steganography). While different strategies have been described for storing information at the molecular level, this Perspective aims to provide a critical overview of the most prominent approaches that can be utilized for retrieving the encoded information. The major part will focus on the sequence determination of synthetic macromolecules, wherein information is stored by the precise arrangement of constituting monomers, with an emphasis on chemically aided strategies, (tandem) mass spectrometry, and nanopore sensing. In addition, recent progress in utilizing (mixtures of) small molecules for information storage will be discussed. Finally, the closing remarks aim to highlight which strategy we believe is the most suitable for a series of specific applications, and will also touch upon the future research avenues that can be pursued for reading (macro)molecular information.

Portable and low-cost hologram verification module using a snapshot-based hyperspectral imaging algorithm

One of the challenges in differentiating a duplicate hologram from an original one is reflectivity. A slight change in lighting condition will completely change the reflection pattern exhibited by a hologram, and consequently, a standardized duplicate hologram detector has not yet been created. In this study, a portable and low-cost snapshot hyperspectral imaging (HSI) algorithm-based housing module for differentiating between original and duplicate holograms was proposed. The module consisted of a Raspberry Pi 4 processor, a Raspberry Pi camera, a display, and a light-emitting diode lighting system with a dimmer. A visible HSI algorithm that could convert an RGB image captured by the Raspberry Pi camera into a hyperspectral image was established. A specific region of interest was selected from the spectral image and mean gray value (MGV) and reflectivity were measured. Results suggested that shorter wavelengths are the most suitable for differentiating holograms when using MGV as the parameter for classification, while longer wavelengths are the most suitable when using reflectivity. The key features of this design include low cost, simplicity, lack of moving parts, and no requirement for an additional decoding key.

The Role of Titanium Dioxide (E171) and the Requirements for Replacement Materials in Oral Solid Dosage Forms: An IQ Consortium Working Group Review

Titanium dioxide (in the form of E171) is a ubiquitous excipient in tablets and capsules for oral use. In the coating of a tablet or in the shell of a capsule the material disperses visible and UV light so that the contents are protected from the effects of light, and the patient or caregiver cannot see the contents within. It facilitates elegant methods of identification for oral solid dosage forms, thus aiding in the battle against counterfeit products. Titanium dioxide ensures homogeneity of appearance from batch to batch fostering patient confidence. The ability of commercial titanium dioxide to disperse light is a function of the natural properties of the anatase polymorph of titanium dioxide, and the manufacturing processes used to produce the material utilized in pharmaceuticals. In some jurisdictions E171 is being considered for removal from pharmaceutical products, as a consequence of it being delisted as an approved colorant for foods. At the time of writing, in the view of the authors, no system or material which could address both current and future toxicological concerns of Regulators and the functional needs of the pharmaceutical industry and patients has been identified. This takes into account the assessment of materials such as calcium carbonate, talc, isomalt, starch and calcium phosphates. In this paper an IQ Consortium team outlines the properties of titanium dioxide and criteria to which new replacement materials should be held.

Novel Stimuli-Responsive Spiropyran-Based Switch@HOFs Materials Enable Dynamic Anticounterfeiting

Developing smart fluorescent materials having very advanced levels, showing dynamic displays of encrypted messaging, remains a huge challenge. In this paper, we present a unique method based on combining a common photochromic molecule spiropyran (SP) with hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), which allows for reversible switching of SP in solid states and shows dynamic displays of encrypted information. With the irradiation time extended, the fluorescence emission undergo an evident transformation from yellow-green to orange to red, because of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process between the unique HOFs and merocyanine (MC) isomer. By doping with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), we obtained free-standing membranes with high flexibility and mechanical strength, which can be reversibly and repeatedly bent and folded at angles of >90°. Notably, the comparison of fatigue resistance between SP2/PDMS (can be used for no more than 5 times) and SP2 ⊂ HOF2/PDMS (can be used for more than 100 times) further proved the importance of HOFs. This composite system has many advantages: (1) it has diverse dynamic fluorescence emission and visible colors regulated by ultraviolet radiation with high contrast and can be reversibly converted; (2) these changes in behavior can be achieved by simple UV illumination; and (3) compared with previous work, this work not only shows the dynamic fluorescence emission, but also shows the dynamic information during the decryption.

Programmable Multifunctional Gels with On-Demand Patterning Capability toward Hierarchical and Multi-Dimensional Encryption and Anti-Counterfeiting

Hydrogels capable of optical switching have recently become one of the most celebrated materials for information encryption and anti-counterfeiting. However, challenges still remain for developing versatile gel-based platforms with on-demand multistage patterning and multi-dimensional encryption capacities as well as long-term stability. Herein, elaborately designed programmable and multifunctional gels with fascinating anti-swelling (swelling ratios < 0.1%), anti-freezing (below -70 °C), and anti-dehydration (over 3 months) abilities, solvent-induced reversible transparence variations, adjustable fluorescence, self-healing (86% in stress and 94% in strain), Fe³⁺-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium (EDTA·2Na)-induced reversible shape memory, and fluorescence off/on switch capabilities are facilely fabricated based on glycidyl methacrylate functionalized graphene quantum dots and Al³⁺ cross-linked gelatin and polyacrylic acid. Employing a simple mask photopolymerization or welding technique, various patterns can be readily and hierarchically encrypted on-demand into a single gel label, which can be further fixed into complex multi-dimensional architectures while quenching fluorescence after the treatment with Fe³⁺ to achieve high-security-level information encryption originating from the synergistic effects of the above multifunctions. The encrypted multi-level information can only be stepwise decrypted by an authorized individual who has mastered all decryption keys. Therefore, the creative design strategy for programing multifunctional gels opens up the possibility for hierarchical and multi-dimensional information encryption and anti-counterfeiting.

Multimode Anticounterfeiting Labels Based on a Flexible and Water-Resistant NaGdF4Yb3+,Er3+@Carbon Dots Chiral Fluorescent Cellulose Film

Advanced fluorescent anticounterfeiting technology has attracted a great deal of attention and inspired researchers to develop reliable fluorescent materials with multimodal luminescence. Herein, hydrophobic NaGdF₄:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺ nanoparticles with dual-mode luminescence were prepared through a one-step solvothermal method using oleic acid as a chelating agent and octadecene as a solvent. The as-synthesized sample was found to provide both green upconversion luminescence and blue downconversion luminescence at excitation wavelengths of 365 and 980 nm. The structure and composition analysis showed that the as-obtained samples were spherical NaGdF₄:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺@carbon dots (CDs) with a 14.5 ± 0.2 nm particle size and good dispersity in nonpolar solvents. Subsequently, NaGdF₄:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺@CDs were coated on a cholesteric nanocellulose film with structural color to prepare multimode circularly polarized fluorescent materials. The prepared composite film is flexible and water-resistant, meaning that it is very suitable for anticounterfeiting labels, not only providing a simple and rapid synthesis method with which to prepare multimode fluorescent materials but also presenting a novel anticounterfeiting technology.

Food Quality, Drug Safety, and Increasing Public Health Measures in Supply Chain Management

Over the last decade, there has been an increased interest in public health measures concerning food quality and drug safety in supply chains and logistics operations. Against this backdrop, this study systematically reviewed the extant literature to identify gaps in studying food quality and drug safety, the proposed solutions to these issues, and potential future research directions. This study utilized content analysis. The objectives of the review were to (1) identify the factors affecting food quality and possible solutions to improve results, (2) analyze the factors that affect drug safety and identify ways to mitigate them through proper management; and (3) establish integrated supply chains for food and drugs by implementing modern technologies, followed by one another to ensure a multi-layered cross-verification cascade and resource management at the different phases to ensure quality, safety, and sustainability for the benefit of public health. This review investigated and identified the most recent trends and technologies used for successfully integrated supply chains that can guarantee food quality and drug safety. Using appropriate keywords, 298 articles were identified, and 205 were shortlisted for the analysis. All analysis and conclusions are based on the available literature. The outcomes of this paper identify new research directions in public health and supply chain management.

Dynamic Fluorescent Anti-Counterfeiting Labels Based on Conjugated Polymers Confined in Submicron Fibrous Membranes

Developing a new anti-counterfeiting strategy is of great significance to combating the global counterfeiting problem. Here we report the construction of a dynamic fluorescence response system for anti-counterfeiting by combining the photochromism induced by the ring-opening of spiropyran (SP) to merocyanine (MC) with the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the conjugated polymer and MC. After elucidating the design principle, a new conjugated polymer, PPETE-SP, consisting of a poly[p-(phenylene ethynylene)-alt-(thienylene-ethynylene)] (PPETE) backbone with pendant SP, was synthesized and characterized. With poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the matrix, the PPETE-SP/PMMA fibrous membrane was prepared via electrospinning. Under the irradiation of UV light, the fluorescent color of the membrane dynamically changed from green to light green, then light pink, and finally pink, and this process was reversible under visible light. The fluorescence emission switch was examined for 10 cycles and proved to have good repeatability, indicating that the membrane can be directly used as an anti-counterfeiting label for multiple verifications. The FRET efficiency was found to be about 61% based on the FRET study with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The covalent bonding between PPETE backbone and SP, the confinement of PPETE-SP chains in the fibrous membrane, as well as employing PMMA as the matrix were demonstrated to be crucial in realizing the photochromism and the FRET. Different anti-counterfeiting modes were proposed, providing rich selections for operation of verification. Such facile-to-operate and hard-to-imitate dynamic fluorescent responsive materials are very promising for use in practical anti-counterfeiting applications.

Current state and future prospects of sensors for evaluating polymer biodegradability and sensors made from biodegradable polymers: A review

Since the invention of fully synthetic plastic in the 1900s, plastics have been extensively applied in various fields and represent a significant market due to their satisfactory properties. However, the non-biodegradable nature of most plastics has contributed to the accumulation of plastic waste, which poses a threat to both the environment and living beings. Given this, biodegradable polymers have emerged as eco-friendly substitutes for non-biodegradable polymers, and standard test methods have been established to evaluate polymer biodegradability. Technological advancement and the weaknesses of conventional test methods drive the invention of sensors that enable real-time monitoring of biodegradability. Besides, biodegradable polymers have been utilized to make sensors with different functionalities. Given this, the current paper is the first to compare and contrast sensors capable of identifying biodegradable polymers. The detection using sensors represents an innovative perspective for real-time monitoring of biodegradability. Besides, sensors made from biodegradable polymers are included, and these sensors are of different types and show various applications. Finally, the challenges associated with developing these sensors are described to advance future research.

Sequencing of Uniform Multifunctional Oligoesters via Random Chain Cleavages

Sequence-defined polymers have been the object of many fascinating studies that focus on their implementation in both material and life science applications. In parallel, iterative synthetic methodologies have become more efficient, whereas the structure elucidation of these molecules is generally dependent on MS/MS analysis. Here, we report an alternative, simple strategy for the determination of the monomer order of uniform oligo(thioether ester)s. This approach, which relies on random cleavages of ester units within the macromolecular backbone via a basic treatment, enables the swift characterization of these macromolecules without the need for MS/MS. Consequently, this method can be used for decoding any information stored within the primary structure of oligoesters by means of ESI- or LC-MS. Finally, we speculate that a range of structurally diverse backbones could be susceptible towards this approach, which could promptly expand the library of chemically sequenceable macromolecules.

Solvo-thermal synthesis of a unique cluster-based nano-porous zinc(II) luminescent metal-organic framework for highly sensitive detection of anthrax biomarker and dichromate

In this work a flexible multi-dentate 4,4'-(1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-yl) methylene-bis(benzonic acid) (H₂L) ligand has been employed, a unique cluster-based nano-porous luminescent zinc(II) metal-organic framework {[Zn(μ₆-L)]·(DMAC)₂}_n (1) (DMAC = Dimethylacetamide) has been isolated under solvo-thermal conditions. The H₂L ligand adopts hexa-dentate coordination modes via one triazole nitrogen atom and four aromatic carboxylate oxygen atoms, which bridge the neighboring six-coordinated Zn^II centers, leading to a three-dimensional (3D) nano-porous metal organic framework. A PLATON program analysis suggests the total potential solvent area volume is 2028.9 Å³, which occupy 62.5% percent of the unit cell volume (3248.4 Å³). PXRD Patterns of the as-synthesized samples 1 have been determined confirming the purity of the bulky samples. Photo-luminescent properties indicate strong fluorescent emissions of 1 at the room temperature. Further photo-luminescent measurements show that 1 can exhibit highly sensitive real-time luminescence sensing of anthrax biomarker dipicolinic acid (DPA) with high quenching efficiency (K_SV = 1.48 × 10⁵ M^-1) and low detection limit (0.298 μM (S/N = 3)). Meanwhile 1 also exhibits highly selective and sensitive luminescence sensing for Cr₂O₇^2- ions in aqueous solutions with high quenching efficiency K_SV = 1.22 × 10⁴ L·mol^-1 and low detection limit (0.023 μM (S/N = 3)). Therefore 1 can be used a unique multi-functional 3D cluster-based metal organic material in sensitive detection and effective detection of environment pollutants and biomarker molecules.

A Review and Classification Framework of Traceability Approaches for Identifying Product Supply Chain Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is found today in many industries and in various forms with severe consequences for supply chain operations. Products counterfeiting can be detected in consumer goods such as clothing, food and beverages, accessories, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and luxury goods. The continuous violations in the supply chain have led to the need for mobilization of all involved stakeholders to overcome counterfeiting challenges. Effective traceability seems to be the only way to combat this phenomenon, ensuring safe and sustainable supply chain operations. This paper presents a structured literature review on traceability approaches for combatting the product supply chain counterfeiting phenomenon that led to forming a structured classification framework. The performed analysis aims to identify trends and good practices and can be used as a guideline for real-life projects against supply chain counterfeiting. The results show that traditional traceability methods are not effective as they can be easily falsified using today’s technological advancements. However, these same advancements also present valuable technologies such as blockchain and the internet of things to ensure safe and sustainable supply chain operations.

Edible Matrix Code with Photogenic Silk Proteins

Counterfeit medicines are a healthcare security problem, posing not only a direct threat to patient safety and public health but also causing heavy economic losses. Current anticounterfeiting methods are limited due to the toxicity of the constituent materials and the focus of secondary packaging level protections. We introduce an edible, imperceptible, and scalable matrix code of information representation and data storage for pharmaceutical products. This matrix code is digestible as it is composed of silk fibroin genetically encoded with fluorescent proteins produced by ecofriendly, sustainable silkworm farming. Three distinct fluorescence emission colors are incorporated into a multidimensional parameter space with a variable encoding capacity in a format of matrix arrays. This code is smartphone-readable to extract a digitized security key augmented by a deep neural network for overcoming fabrication imperfections and a cryptographic hash function for enhanced security. The biocompatibility, photostability, thermal stability, long-term reliability, and low bit error ratio of the code support the immediate feasibility for dosage-level anticounterfeit measures and authentication features. The edible code affixed to each medicine can serve as serialization, track and trace, and authentication at the dosage level, empowering every patient to play a role in combating illicit pharmaceuticals.

Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Combined with Chemometrics for Identification of Penicillin Manufacturers

Due to the differences in raw materials and production processes, the quality of the same type of drug produced by different manufacturers is different. In drug supervision, determining the manufacturer can help to trace drug quality issues. In this study, a method for the quick identification of drug manufacturers based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was proposed for the first time. We obtained the LIBS spectra from 12 samples of three types of penicillin (phenoxymethylpenicillin potassium tablets, amoxicillin capsules, and amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium tablets) produced by 10 manufacturers. The LIBS characteristic lines of the three types of penicillin were ranked by importance based on the decrease in the Gini index of random forest (RF). Three classifiers—the linear discriminant analysis (LDA), support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN)—were used to identify the different manufacturers of the three types of penicillin. RF-ANN provided the best classification result and an accuracy of 100% in penicillin manufacturer identification. The results show that LIBS combined with chemometrics could be used in the identification of penicillin manufacturers, and this method has application potential in drug quality supervision.

Double Lock Label Based on Thermosensitive Polymer Hydrogels for Information Camouflage and Multilevel Encryption

Developing extra safety encryption technologies to prevent information leakage and combat fakes is in high demand but is challenging. Herein, we propose a "double lock" strategy based on both lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and upper critical solution temperature (UCST) polymer hydrogels for information camouflage and multilevel encryption. Two types of hydrogels were synthesized by the method of random copolymerization. The number of -CO-NH₂ groups in the network structure of the hydrogels changed the enthalpic or entropic thermo-responsive hydrogels, and ultimately precisely controlled their phase transition temperature. The crosslink density of the polymer hydrogels governs the diffusion kinetics, resulting in a difference in the time for their color change. The combination of multiple LCST and UCST hydrogels in one label realized information encryption and dynamic information identification in the dimensions of both time and temperature. This work is highly interesting for the fields of information encryption, anti-counterfeiting, and smart responsive materials.

Discrete, self-immolative N-substituted oligourethanes and their use as molecular tags

The depolymerization of N-substituted oligourethanes via an intramolecular cyclization event was studied in-depth, while the applicability of these macromolecules as anti-counterfeiting tags was demonstrated by labeling a polyurethane material.

Critical Success Factors and Traceability Technologies for Establishing a Safe Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Drug counterfeits have been an international issue for almost two decades, and the latest statistics show that fake medications will continue to penetrate legitimate pharmaceutical supply chains (PSCs). Therefore, identifying the issues faced by PSCs is essential to combat the counterfeit drug problem, which will require the implementation of technologies in various phases of the PSC to gain better visibility. In this regard, a literature review was conducted to fulfill the following objectives: (i) review the application of traceability technologies in various PSC phases to detect counterfeits; (ii) analyze the various barriers affecting the establishment of a safe PSC and the critical success factors used to overcome those barriers; and (iii) develop a conceptual framework and guidelines to demonstrate the influence of traceability technologies and success factors on overcoming the various barriers in different phases of the PSC. The major finding of this review was that traceability technologies and the critical success factors have a significant influence on overcoming the barriers to establishing a safe PSC.