DMPE-PEG, a polyethylene glycol derivative, is a vital component in the development of advanced drug delivery platforms focused on combatting cancer and infectious diseases. Through its unique properties, it plays a crucial role in improving the solubility and stability of pharmaceutical agents, thereby heightening their therapeutic potential.
Reference Reading
1. Strategies to improve membrane performance in wastewater treatment
Shams Forruque Ahmed, Fatema Mehejabin, Adiba Momtahin, Nuzaba Tasannum, Nishat Tasnim Faria, M Mofijur, Anh Tuan Hoang, Dai-Viet N Vo, T M I Mahlia. Chemosphere. 2022 Nov;306:135527. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135527.
Membrane technology has rapidly gained popularity in wastewater treatment due to its cost-effectiveness, environmentally friendly tools, and elevated productivity. Although membrane performance in wastewater treatment has been reviewed in several past studies, the key techniques for improving membrane performance, as well as their challenges, and solutions associated with the membrane process, were not sufficiently highlighted in those studies. Also, very few studies have addressed hybrid techniques to improve membrane performance. The present review aims to fill those gaps and achieve public health benefits through safe water processing. Despite its higher cost, membrane performance can result in a 36% reduction in flux degradation. The issue with fouling has been identified as one of the key challenges of membrane technology. Chemical cleaning is quite effective in removing accumulated foulant. Fouling mitigation techniques have also been shown to have a positive effect on membrane photobioreactors that handle wastewater effluent, resulting in a 50% and 60% reduction in fouling rates for backwash and nitrogen bubble scouring techniques. Membrane hybrid approaches such as hybrid forward-reverse osmosis show promise in removing high concentrations of phosphorus, ammonium, and salt from wastewater. The incorporation of the forward osmosis process can reject 99% of phosphorus and 97% of ammonium, and the reverse osmosis approach can achieve a 99% salt rejection rate. The control strategies for membrane fouling have not been successfully optimized yet and more research is needed to achieve a realistic, long-term direct membrane filtering operation.
2. Effect of Sodium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Ammonium Nitrate, and Salt Mixtures on Aqueous Phase Partitioning of Organic Compounds
Chen Wang, Ying Duan Lei, Frank Wania. Environ Sci Technol. 2016 Dec 6;50(23):12742-12749. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03525.
Dissolved inorganic salts influence the partitioning of organic compounds into the aqueous phase. This influence is especially significant in atmospheric aerosol, which usually contains large amounts of ions, including sodium, ammonium, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate. However, empirical data on this salt effect are very sparse. Here, the partitioning of numerous organic compounds into solutions of Na2SO4, NH4Cl, and NH4NO3 was measured and compared with existing data for NaCl and (NH4)2SO4. Salt mixtures were also tested to establish whether the salt effect is additive. In general, the salt effect showed a decreasing trend of Na2SO4 > (NH)2SO4 > NaCl > NH4Cl > NH4NO3 for the studied organic compounds, implying the following relative strength of the salt effect of individual anions: SO42- > Cl- > NO3- and of cations: Na+ > NH4+. The salt effect of different salts is moderately correlated. Predictive models for the salt effect were developed based on the experimental data. The experimental data indicate that the salt effect of mixtures may not be entirely additive. However, the deviation from additivity, if it exists, is small. Data of very high quality are required to establish whether the effect of constituent ions or salts is additive or not.
3. Salting-Out of DNA Origami Nanostructures by Ammonium Sulfate
Marcel Hanke, Niklas Hansen, Ruiping Chen, Guido Grundmeier, Karim Fahmy, Adrian Keller. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Mar 4;23(5):2817. doi: 10.3390/ijms23052817.
DNA origami technology enables the folding of DNA strands into complex nanoscale shapes whose properties and interactions with molecular species often deviate significantly from that of genomic DNA. Here, we investigate the salting-out of different DNA origami shapes by the kosmotropic salt ammonium sulfate that is routinely employed in protein precipitation. We find that centrifugation in the presence of 3 M ammonium sulfate results in notable precipitation of DNA origami nanostructures but not of double-stranded genomic DNA. The precipitated DNA origami nanostructures can be resuspended in ammonium sulfate-free buffer without apparent formation of aggregates or loss of structural integrity. Even though quasi-1D six-helix bundle DNA origami are slightly less susceptible toward salting-out than more compact DNA origami triangles and 24-helix bundles, precipitation and recovery yields appear to be mostly independent of DNA origami shape and superstructure. Exploiting the specificity of ammonium sulfate salting-out for DNA origami nanostructures, we further apply this method to separate DNA origami triangles from genomic DNA fragments in a complex mixture. Our results thus demonstrate the possibility of concentrating and purifying DNA origami nanostructures by ammonium sulfate-induced salting-out.
