Sustainable route toward processing of polylactic acid/sawdust-based cellulose composites via grafting: Energy consumption during extrusion.

Lignocellulosic materials derived from by-products such as cellulose typically provide enhanced interfacial properties when functionalized with coupling agents, such as maleic anhydride (MA), and incorporated into polylactic acid (PLA) polymers. This research aims to identify the optimal conditions for either improving or maintaining PLA properties evaluating interactions by incorporating varying amounts of cellulose (5-28 wt%) extracted from sawdust biomass and PLA-g-MA (3-20 wt%) composites into pure PLA. This is accomplished through an extreme vertices mixture design (EVMD).

alkaloid copolymers as fluorimetric INHIBIT and colorimetric AND logic gates for detection of iodide.

Four alkaloid-acrylamide water soluble copolymers with a mean hydrodynamic diameter of 3 nm were synthesised by free radical polymerization. The copolymers were characterised by H NMR, FTIR, GPC, DLS, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. A blue emission is observed with H switching of 185 and 175-fold for the quinidine and quinine copolymers, and 21 and 11-fold for the cinchonine and cinchonidine copolymers, while the presence of Cl, Br or I causes fluorescence quenching.

A Strategy Towards the Valorization of Aloe Vera Rinds to Obtain Crystalline Cellulose: Pretreatment Effects and Elemental Analysis.

Although crystalline nanocellulose (CNCs) can be extracted from different resources, the employed pretreatments, which disrupt the inter- and intramolecular physical interactions, depend on the biomass sources. This study aims to valorize Aloe Vera (AV) rinds into cellulose and crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) employing two approaches during hydrolysis: sulfuric acid (CNC) and citric acid (CNC) after 30, 60, and 90 min of reaction. The effects of pretreatments and hydrolysis time on the functional groups and hydrogen bonding in biomass are discussed.

A dual encapsulation strategy to generate anion-responsive luminescent lanthanide hydrogels.

We report a new method to generate ion-responsive luminescent hydrogels, involving encapsulation of a luminescent lanthanide probe within crosslinked amphiphilic polymer particles and subsequent entrapment within a hydrogel. The resulting hydrogels are capable of reversible bicarbonate sensing, exhibit no leaching, and can be tuned for a range of sensing applications.

Evaluating the impact of a child sponsorship programme on paediatric health and development in Calauan, Philippines: A retrospective audit.

Aim: International child sponsorship programmes comprise a considerable proportion of global aid accessible to the general population. Team Philippines (TP), a health care and welfare initiative run in association with the University of Notre Dame Sydney since 2013, leads a holistic sponsorship programme for 30 children from Calauan, Philippines. To date, empirical research has not been performed into the overall success and impact of the TP child sponsorship programme.