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Santoro O, Izzo L. Antimicrobial Polymer Surfaces Containing Quaternary Ammonium Centers (QACs): Synthesis and Mechanism of Action. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:7587. [PMID: 39062830 PMCID: PMC11277267 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25147587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2024] [Revised: 07/05/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Synthetic polymer surfaces provide an excellent opportunity for developing materials with inherent antimicrobial and/or biocidal activity, therefore representing an answer to the increasing demand for antimicrobial active medical devices. So far, biologists and material scientists have identified a few features of bacterial cells that can be strategically exploited to make polymers inherently antimicrobial. One of these is represented by the introduction of cationic charges that act by killing or deactivating bacteria by interaction with the negatively charged parts of their cell envelope (lipopolysaccharides, peptidoglycan, and membrane lipids). Among the possible cationic functionalities, the antimicrobial activity of polymers with quaternary ammonium centers (QACs) has been widely used for both soluble macromolecules and non-soluble materials. Unfortunately, most information is still unknown on the biological mechanism of action of QACs, a fundamental requirement for designing polymers with higher antimicrobial efficiency and possibly very low toxicity. This mini-review focuses on surfaces based on synthetic polymers with inherently antimicrobial activity due to QACs. It will discuss their synthesis, their antimicrobial activity, and studies carried out so far on their mechanism of action.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy;
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Albonetti C, Izzo L, Vigliotta G, Saponetti MS, Liscio F, Bobba F. Morphology and Mechanics of Star Copolymer Ultrathin Films Probed by Atomic Force Microscopy in the Air and in Liquid. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 17:592. [PMID: 38591448 PMCID: PMC10856403 DOI: 10.3390/ma17030592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Star copolymer films were produced by using spin-coating, drop-casting, and casting deposition techniques, thus obtaining ultrathin and thick films, respectively. The morphology is generally flat, but it becomes substrate-dependent for ultrathin films where the planarization effect of films is not efficient. The indentation hardness of films was investigated by Force Volume Maps in both the air and liquid. In the air, ultrathin films are in the substrate-dominated zone and, thus, the elastic modulus E is overestimated, while E reaches its bulk value for drop-casted ultrathin and thick films. In liquid (water), E follows an exponential decay for all films with a minimum soaked time t0 of 0.37 and 2.65 h for ultrathin and drop-casted ultrathin and thick films, respectively. After this time, E saturates to a value on average 92% smaller than that measured in the air due to film swelling. Such results support the role of film morphology in the antimicrobial activity envisaged in the literature, suggesting also an additional role of film hardness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristiano Albonetti
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Superconduttori, Materiali Innovativi e Dispositivi (CNR-SPIN), Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi Dell’insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, Italy;
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia “A. Zambelli”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy;
| | - Giovanni Vigliotta
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia “A. Zambelli”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy;
| | - Matilde Sublimi Saponetti
- Dipartimento di Fisica “E.R. Caianiello”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy; (M.S.S.); (F.B.)
| | - Fabiola Liscio
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Microelettronica e i Microsistemi (CNR-IMM), Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy;
| | - Fabrizio Bobba
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Superconduttori, Materiali Innovativi e Dispositivi (CNR-SPIN), Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
- Dipartimento di Fisica “E.R. Caianiello”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy; (M.S.S.); (F.B.)
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Santoro O, Malacarne MC, Sarcone F, Scapinello L, Pragliola S, Caruso E, Orlandi VT, Izzo L. Inherently Antimicrobial P(MMA- ran-DMAEMA) Copolymers Sensitive to Photodynamic Therapy: A Double Bactericidal Effect for Active Wound Dressing. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24054340. [PMID: 36901769 PMCID: PMC10001570 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24054340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
In this work, two compounds belonging to the BODIPY family, and previously investigated for their photosensitizing properties, have been bound to the amino-pendant groups of three random copolymers, with different amounts of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) in the backbone. The P(MMA-ran-DMAEMA) copolymers have inherently bactericidal activity, due to the amino groups of DMAEMA and to the quaternized nitrogens bounded to BODIPY. Systems consisting of filter paper discs coated with copolymers conjugated to BODIPY were tested on two model microorganisms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). On solid medium, irradiation with green light induced an antimicrobial effect, visible as a clear inhibition area around the coated disks. The system based on the copolymer with 43% DMAEMA and circa 0.70 wt/wt% of BODIPY was the most efficient in both bacterial species, and a selectivity for the Gram-positive model was observed, independently of the conjugated BODIPY. A residual antimicrobial activity was also observed after dark incubation, attributed to the inherently bactericidal properties of copolymers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orlando Santoro
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Miryam Chiara Malacarne
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Francesco Sarcone
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Luca Scapinello
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Stefania Pragliola
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 128, 85085 Fisciano, SA, Italy
| | - Enrico Caruso
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Viviana Teresa Orlandi
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant, 3, 21100 Varese, VA, Italy
- Correspondence:
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On the role played by hydrogen bonding between water soluble polyacids and surfactants on their micellization as a function of pH. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2023.130923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
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Mella M, Tagliabue A, Viscusi G, Gorrasi G, Izzo L. How chemical structure and composition impact on the release of salt-like drugs from hydrophobic matrices: Variation of mechanism upon adding hydrophilic features to PMMA. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.128878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Mella M, Tagliabue A. Impact of Chemically Specific Interactions between Anions and Weak Polyacids on Chain Ionization, Conformations, and Solution Energetics. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como (I), Italy
| | - Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como (I), Italy
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Mella M, Tagliabue A, Mollica L, Vaghi S, Izzo L. Inducing pH control over the critical micelle concentration of zwitterionic surfactants via polyacids adsorption: Effect of chain length and structure. J Colloid Interface Sci 2022; 606:1636-1651. [PMID: 34500165 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS The critical concentration above which micelles form from zwitterionic surfactant solutions and their thermodynamic stability is affected by the interaction with weak Brønsted polyacid chains (An) via the formation of charged hydrogen bonds between the latter and anionic moieties. EXPERIMENTS The interaction between zwitterionic micelles and polyacids capable of forming hydrogen bonds, and its dependence on the environmental pH and polymer structure, has been studied with constant-pH simulations and a restricted primitive model for all electrolytes. FINDINGS At low pH, the formation of polyacid/micelle complexes is witnessed independently of the polymer size or structure, so that the concentration above which micelles form is substantially decreased compared to polyacid-free cases. Upon rising pH, polymer desorption takes place within a narrow range of pH values, its location markedly depending on the size and structure of polyacids, and on the relative disposition between headgroup charged moieties. Thus, the desorption onset for long linear polyacids (A60) interacting with sulphobetainic headgroups is roughly two pH units higher than for six decameric chains (6A10) adsorbed onto micelles bearing phosphorylcholinic headgroups. This effect, together with the preferential desorption of chain ends at intermediate pH, may be exploited for drug delivery purposes or building advanced metamaterials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100 Como, Italy.
| | - Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Luca Mollica
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Vanvitelli 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Stefano Vaghi
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Universitá degli Studi dell'Insubria, via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy
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Mella M, Tagliabue A, Vaghi S, Izzo L. Evidences for charged hydrogen bonds on surfaces bearing weakly basic pendants: The case of PMMA–ran–PDMAEMA polymeric films. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.126525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Tagliabue A, Landsgesell J, Mella M, Holm C. Can oppositely charged polyelectrolyte stars form a gel? A simulational study. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:1574-1588. [PMID: 33351002 DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01617a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We present a Langevin molecular dynamics study of an equimolar mixture of monodispersed oppositely charged di-block four-armed polyelectrolyte stars. We used an implicit solvent coarse-grained representation of the polyelectrolyte stars, and varied the length of the terminal charged blocks that reside on each arm. By varying the polymer concentration, we computed PV diagrams and determined the free-swelling equilibrium concentration with respect to a pure water reservoir as a function of the charged block length. We investigated various structural properties of the resulting equilibrium structures, like the number of ionic bonds, dangling arms, isolated stars, and cluster sizes. The ionic bonds featured a broad distribution of the number of arms involved and also displayed a distribution of net charges peaked around the neutral ionic bond. Our main result is that for charged block length equal to 4 and 5 ionized beads the resulting macro-aggregate spans the box and forms a network phase. Furthermore, we investigated the restructuring dynamics of ionic bonds; the results suggested both short bond lifetimes and a high frequency of ballistic association/dissociation events. Bonds result strong enough to yield a stable gel phase, but they are still weak enough to allow network restructuring under thermal fluctuations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100, Como, Italy
| | - Jonas Landsgesell
- Institute for Computational Physics, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany.
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100, Como, Italy
| | - Christian Holm
- Institute for Computational Physics, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany.
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Mella M, Tagliabue A, Izzo L. On the distribution of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes and their counterions around zwitterionic micelles: the possible impact on the charge density in solution. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:1267-1283. [PMID: 33300543 DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01541e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Despite their charge neutrality, micelles composed of surfactants with zwitterionic headgroups selectively accumulate anions at their hydrophobic core/solution interphase due to electrostatic interactions if headgroup positive moieties are the innermost. This tendency may be markedly enhanced if polyions substitute simple ions. To investigate this possibility, solutions composed of zwitterionic micelles and hydrophilic polyanions have been investigated with Monte Carlo simulations representing the studied systems via primitive electrolyte models. Structural and energetic properties are obtained to highlight the impact of connecting simple ions into polyions on the interactions between electrolytes and micelles. Despite the latter, polyanions conserve their conformational properties. A marked increase in the concentration of charged species inside the micellar corona is, instead, found when polyions are present independently of their charge sign or the headgroup structure. Thus, polyelectrolytes act as "shuttle" for all charged species, with the potential of increasing reactions rates involving the latter due to mass effects. Besides, results for the polyions/micelles mixing free energy and Helmholtz energy profiles indicate that the critical micelle concentration is impacted minimally by hydrophilic polyelectrolytes, an outcome agreeing with experiments. This finding is entirely due to weak enthalpic effects while mixing hydrophilic polyions and micelles. A strong reduction in the screening of the micelle negative charge, acquired following the adsorption of anions in the corona and due to counterions layering just outside it (the so called "chameleon effect"), is forecasted when polyanions substitute monovalent anions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy.
| | - Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy.
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100, Varese, Italy
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Tagliabue A, Izzo L, Mella M. Interface Counterion Localization Induces a Switch between Tight and Loose Configurations of Knotted Weak Polyacid Rings despite Intermonomer Coulomb Repulsions. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:2930-2937. [PMID: 32154720 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c00620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Stochastic simulations have been used to investigate the conformational behavior of knotted weak polyacid rings as a function of pH. Different from the commonly expected ionization-repulsion-expansion scheme upon increasing pH, theoretical results suggest a nonmonotonic behavior of the gyration radius Rg2. Polyelectrolyte recontraction at high ionization is induced by the weakening of Coulomb repulsion due to counterions (CIs) localizing at the interphase between the polymer and solvent, and the more marked it appears, the more complex is the knot topology. Compared with strong polyelectrolytic species of identical ionization, weak polyacids present tighter knots due to their ability to localize neutral monomers inside the tangled part. Increasing the solvent Bjerrum length enhances CIs localization, lowering the pH at which polyacids start decreasing their average size. A similar effect is also obtained by increasing the amount of "localizable" cations by adding salts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Universitá degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Universitá degli Studi dell'Insubria, via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Universitá degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9, 22100 Como, Italy
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Mella M, Tagliabue A, Mollica L, Izzo L. Monte Carlo study of the effects of macroion charge distribution on the ionization and adsorption of weak polyelectrolytes and concurrent counterion release. J Colloid Interface Sci 2020; 560:667-680. [PMID: 31704002 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.10.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 10/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS Adsorption of weak polyelectrolytes onto charged nanoparticles, and concurrent effects such as spatial partitioning of ions may be influenced by details of the polyelectrolyte structure (linear or star-like) and size, by the mobility of the nanoparticle surface charge, or the valence of the nanoparticle counterions. EXPERIMENTS Ionization and complexation of weak polyelectrolytes on spherical macroions with monovalent and divalent countrions has been studied with constant-pH Monte Carlo titrations and primitive electrolyte models for linear and star-like polymers capable, also, of forming charged hydrogen bonds. Nanoparticles surface charge has been represented either as a single colloid-centered total charge (CCTC) or as surface-tethered mobile monovalent spherical charges (SMMSC). FINDINGS Differences in the average number of adsorbed polyelectrolyte arms and their average charge, and in the relative amount of macroion counterions (m-CI's) released upon polymer adsorption are found between CCTC and SMMSC nanoparticles. The amount of the counterions released also depends on the polymer structure. As CCTC adsorbs a lower number of star-like species arms, the degree of condensation of polymer counterions (p-CI's) onto the polyelectrolyte is also substantially higher for the CCTC colloid, with a concurrent decrease of the osmotic coefficient values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy.
| | - Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Luca Mollica
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Vanvitelli 32, 20133 Milano, Italy; Istituto Nazionale Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi", Via F. Sforza 35, 20122 Milano, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy.
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Tagliabue A, Izzo L, Mella M. Impact of Charge Correlation, Chain Rigidity, and Chemical Specific Interactions on the Behavior of Weak Polyelectrolytes in Solution. J Phys Chem B 2019; 123:8872-8888. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b06017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
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Tagliabue A, Izzo L, Mella M. Absorbed weak polyelectrolytes: Impact of confinement, topology, and chemically specific interactions on ionization, conformation free energy, counterion condensation, and absorption equilibrium. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/polb.24806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta TecnologiaUniversità degli Studi dell'Insubria via Valleggio 9, 22100, Como Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della VitaUniversità degli Studi dell'Insubria via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100, Varese Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta TecnologiaUniversità degli Studi dell'Insubria via Valleggio 9, 22100, Como Italy
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15
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Mella M, La Rocca MV, Miele Y, Izzo L. On the origin and consequences of high DMAEMA reactivity ratio in ATRP copolymerization with MMA: An experimental and theoretical study#. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/pola.29017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia; Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9; Como 22100 Italy
| | - Mario Vincenzo La Rocca
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia; Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 9; Como 22100 Italy
| | - Ylenia Miele
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia; Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132; 84084 Fisciano Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia; Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132; 84084 Fisciano Italy
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Curotto E, Mella M. Diffusion Monte Carlo simulations of gas phase and adsorbed D 2-(H 2) n clusters. J Chem Phys 2018; 148:102315. [PMID: 29544319 DOI: 10.1063/1.5000372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
We have computed ground state energies and analyzed radial distributions for several gas phase and adsorbed D2(H2)n and HD(H2)n clusters. An external model potential designed to mimic ionic adsorption sites inside porous materials is used [M. Mella and E. Curotto, J. Phys. Chem. A 121, 5005 (2017)]. The isotopic substitution lowers the ground state energies by the expected amount based on the mass differences when these are compared with the energies of the pure clusters in the gas phase. A similar impact is found for adsorbed aggregates. The dissociation energy of D2 from the adsorbed clusters is always much higher than that of H2 from both pure and doped aggregates. Radial distributions of D2 and H2 are compared for both the gas phase and adsorbed species. For the gas phase clusters, two types of hydrogen-hydrogen interactions are considered: one based on the assumption that rotations and translations are adiabatically decoupled and the other based on nonisotropic four-dimensional potential. In the gas phase clusters of sufficiently large size, we find the heavier isotopomer more likely to be near the center of mass. However, there is a considerable overlap among the radial distributions of the two species. For the adsorbed clusters, we invariably find the heavy isotope located closer to the attractive interaction source than H2, and at the periphery of the aggregate, H2 molecules being substantially excluded from the interaction with the source. This finding rationalizes the dissociation energy results. For D2-(H2)n clusters with n≥12, such preference leads to the desorption of D2 from the aggregate, a phenomenon driven by the minimization of the total energy that can be obtained by reducing the confinement of (H2)12. The same happens for (H2)13, indicating that such an effect may be quite general and impact on the absorption of quantum species inside porous materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Curotto
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038-3295, USA
| | - M Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
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Di Capua A, Adami R, Izzo L, Reverchon E. Luteolin/dextran-FITC fluorescent microspheres produced by supercritical assisted atomization. J Supercrit Fluids 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.supflu.2017.07.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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Barrella MC, Di Capua A, Adami R, Reverchon E, Mella M, Izzo L. Impact of intermolecular drug-copolymer interactions on size and drug release kinetics from pH-responsive polymersomes. Supramol Chem 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/10610278.2017.1377836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Chiara Barrella
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Alessia Di Capua
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Renata Adami
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Ernesto Reverchon
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Como, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
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19
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Amendola V, Bergamaschi G, Guglielmo L, Izzo L, Mangano C, Mella M, Milanese C, Miljkovic A. Dicopper(II) MozobilTM: a dinuclear receptor for the pyrophosphate anion in aqueous solution. Supramol Chem 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/10610278.2017.1373194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Amendola
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Greta Bergamaschi
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | | | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Carlo Mangano
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como, Italy
| | - Chiara Milanese
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Ana Miljkovic
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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20
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Villani S, Adami R, Reverchon E, Ferretti AM, Ponti A, Lepretti M, Caputo I, Izzo L. pH-sensitive polymersomes: controlling swelling via copolymer structure and chemical composition. J Drug Target 2017; 25:899-909. [PMID: 28812391 DOI: 10.1080/1061186x.2017.1363216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
pH-sensitive vesicles used as drug delivery systems (DDSs) are generally composed of protonable copolymers. The disaggregation of these nanoparticles (NPs) during drug release implies the dispersion of positively charged cytotoxic polyelectrolytes in the human body. To alleviate such issue, we synthesised A(BC)n amphiphilic block copolymers with linear (n = 1) and branched (n = 2) architectures to obtain pH-sensitive vesicles capable of releasing drugs in acidic conditions via controlled swelling instead of disaggregation. We obtained this feature by fine-tuning the relative amount of pH-sensitive and hydrophobic monomers. We studied pH-driven swelling by measuring NPs size in neutral and acidic conditions, the latter typical of tumours or inflamed tissues (pH∼6) and lysosomes (pH∼4.5). Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential data provided useful indications about the influence of architecture and chemical composition on NPs swelling, stability and polycation release. Results demonstrated that vesicles made of linear copolymers with ∼22-28% in mol of protonable monomers in the 'BC' block swelled more than other species following a pH change from pH 7.4 to pH 4.5. We finally evaluated the cytotoxicity of vesicles composed of linear species, and paclitaxel (PTX) release from the latter in both cancer and normal cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Villani
- a Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
| | - Renata Adami
- b Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
| | - Ernesto Reverchon
- b Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
| | - Anna Maria Ferretti
- c Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari , Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Milano , Italy
| | - Alessandro Ponti
- c Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari , Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Milano , Italy
| | - Marilena Lepretti
- a Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
| | - Ivana Caputo
- a Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- a Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia , Università degli Studi di Salerno , Fisciano , Italy
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21
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Mella M, Curotto E. Assessment of the Effects of Anisotropic Interactions among Hydrogen Molecules and Their Isotopologues: A Diffusion Monte Carlo Investigation of Gas Phase and Adsorbed Clusters. J Phys Chem A 2017; 121:5005-5017. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.7b03768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento
di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - E. Curotto
- Department
of Chemistry and Physics, Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038-3295, United States
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22
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Mella M, Izzo L. Modulation of ionization and structural properties of weak polyelectrolytes due to 1D, 2D, and 3D confinement. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/polb.24351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia; Università degli Studi dell'Insubria; via Valleggio 9 Como 22100 Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia; Università degli Studi di Salerno; via Giovanni Paolo II, 132 Fisciano 84084 Italy
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23
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De Rosa M, Vigliotta G, Soriente A, Capaccio V, Gorrasi G, Adami R, Reverchon E, Mella M, Izzo L. “Leaching or not leaching”: an alternative approach to antimicrobial materials via copolymers containing crown ethers as active groups. Biomater Sci 2017; 5:741-751. [DOI: 10.1039/c6bm00950f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
New copolymers containing MMA and 18C6 crown-ether pendants, with or without a PEG arm, were synthesized to check if sequestering structural alkali-earth ions from the bacterial outer membrane (OM) may lead to bacterial death.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. De Rosa
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - G. Vigliotta
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - A. Soriente
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - V. Capaccio
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - G. Gorrasi
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - R. Adami
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - E. Reverchon
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
| | - M. Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia
- Università degli Studi dell'Insubria
- 11, 22100 Como
- Italy
| | - L. Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA)
- Italy
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24
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Tagliabue A, Izzo L, Mella M. Out of Equilibrium Self-Assembly of Janus Nanoparticles: Steering It from Disordered Amorphous to 2D Patterned Aggregates. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2016; 32:12934-12946. [PMID: 27809544 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Solvent evaporation driven self-assembly of Janus nanoparticles (J-NPs) has been simulated employing lattice-gas models to investigate the possible emergence of new superlattices. Depending on the chemical nature of NP faces (hence solvophilicity and relative interaction strength), zebra-like or check-like patterns and micellar agglomerates can be obtained. Vesicle-like aggregates can be produced by micelle-based corrals during heterogeneous evaporation. Patterns formed during aggregation appear to be robust against changes in evaporation modality (i.e., spinodal or heterogeneous) or interaction strengths, and they are due to a strictly nanoscopic orientation of single J-NPs in all cases. Due to the latter feature, the aggregate size growth law N(t) ∝ ta has its exponent a markedly depending on the chemical nature of the J-NPs involved in spite of the unvaried growth mechanism. We interpret such a finding as connected to the increasingly stricter orientation pre-requirements for successful (binding) NP landing upon going from isotropic (a ≃ 0.50), to "zebra" (a ≃ 0.38), to "check" (a ≃ 0.23), and finally to "micelle" (a = 0.15-0.17) pattern forming NPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Tagliabue
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria , via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
| | - Lorella Izzo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno , Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
| | - Massimo Mella
- Dipartimento di Scienza ed Alta Tecnologia, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria , via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
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Xu W, Ledin PA, Shevchenko VV, Tsukruk VV. Architecture, Assembly, and Emerging Applications of Branched Functional Polyelectrolytes and Poly(ionic liquid)s. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2015; 7:12570-12596. [PMID: 26010902 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b01833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Branched polyelectrolytes with cylindrical brush, dendritic, hyperbranched, grafted, and star architectures bearing ionizable functional groups possess complex and unique assembly behavior in solution at surfaces and interfaces as compared to their linear counterparts. This review summarizes the recent developments in the introduction of various architectures and understanding of the assembly behavior of branched polyelectrolytes with a focus on functional polyelectrolytes and poly(ionic liquid)s with responsive properties. The branched polyelectrolytes and poly(ionic liquid)s interact electrostatically with small molecules, linear polyelectrolytes, or other branched polyelectrolytes to form assemblies of hybrid nanoparticles, multilayer thin films, responsive microcapsules, and ion-conductive membranes. The branched structures lead to unconventional assemblies and complex hierarchical structures with responsive properties as summarized in this review. Finally, we discuss prospectives for emerging applications of branched polyelectrolytes and poly(ionic liquid)s for energy harvesting and storage, controlled delivery, chemical microreactors, adaptive surfaces, and ion-exchange membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weinan Xu
- †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Petr A Ledin
- †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Valery V Shevchenko
- ‡Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kharkovskoe shosse 48, Kiev 02160, Ukraine
| | - Vladimir V Tsukruk
- †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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