Design on head-to-tail directly linked homogeneous and heterogeneous cyclodextrin dimers and their evaluation of hydrophobic cavity

Asymmetric Cyclodextrin-Dimer-Involved Nanoassemblies by Selective Host-Guest Interactions: Concentration-Dependent Morphology Evolution and Light-Regulated Biomedical Applications

Supramolecular assembly has attracted significant attention and has been applied to various applications. Herein, a β-γ-CD dimer was synthesized to complex different guest molecules, including single-strand polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified C60 (PEG-C60), photothermal conversion reagent (IR780), and dexamethasone (Dexa), according to the complexation constant-dependent specific selectivity. Spherical or cylindrical nanoparticles, monolayer or bilayer vesicles, and bilayer fusion vesicles were discovered in succession if the concentration of PEG-C60 was varied. Moreover, if near-infrared light was employed to irradiate these nanoassemblies, the thermo-induced morphological evolution, subsequent cargo release, photothermal effect, and singlet oxygen (1O2) generation were successfully achieved. The in vitro cell experiments confirmed that these nanoparticles possessed excellent biocompatibility in a normal environment and achieved superior cytotoxicity by light regulation. Such proposed strategies for the construction of multilevel structures with different morphologies can open a new window to obtain various host-guest functional materials and achieve further use for disease treatment.

Insight into β-cyclodextrin polymer microsphere as a potential filtration reducer in water-based drilling fluids for high temperature application

Controlling the filtration of water-based drilling fluid effectively in high temperature environment is a great challenge in drilling engineering. In this study, β-cyclodextrin polymer microspheres (β-CDPMs) were synthesized by crosslinking between β-cyclodextrin and epichlorohydrin via inverse emulsion polymerization and employed as filtration reducers. The standard American Petroleum Institute filtration test showed that the β-CDPMs can only perform the enhanced filtration control ability at temperatures above 160 °C, and can tolerate the temperature resistance up to 240 °C without significant influence of rheology. As the thermal aging temperature is above 160 °C, numerous nano carbon spheres and nanostructured composites generated due to the occurrence of hydrothermal reaction. These high temperature stable nanoparticles bridged across the nano sized gaps and participated into forming dense filter cake, contributing to excellent filtration control. The filtration control mechanism proposed in this study opened a novel avenue for high temperature filtration control in water-based drilling fluids.

Effective Guest Inclusion by a 6-O-Modified β-Cyclodextrin Dimer in Organic Solvents

A 6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilylated β-cyclodextrin (TBDMS-β-CD) dimer, in which two TBDMS-β-CD rings are connected in a head-to-head fashion by a m-xylylene linker, effectively forms inclusion complexes with pyrene and naphthalene in nonpolar organic solvents such as cyclohexane and benzene. This TBDMS-β-CD dimer shows a higher inclusion ability toward these guests than a TBDMS-β-CD dimer bearing a p-xylylene linker due to the greater cooperation of the two TBDMS-β-CD rings for the guest inclusion. Unlike the corresponding monomer, the TBDMS-β-CD dimer bearing a m-xylylene linker is also a good host even in polar organic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran. High chiral recognition of aromatic amines and alcohol is realized by utilizing inclusion within the cavity of the TBDMS-β-CD dimer in cyclohexane. In particular, an extremely high binding selectivity for (S)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine and (S)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethanol over the corresponding (R)-isomers is achieved. Moreover, by utilizing the high chiral recognition with the TBDMS-β-CD dimer in cyclohexane, a non-enzymatic kinetic resolution of racemic 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine via enantioselective N-benzoylation is attained with an enantiomer excess of up to 87 % and an s-factor of 15.