TY - JOUR A1 - Lange, Alyna A1 - Holtzheimer, Lea A1 - Clarke, Coby A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Complex Self-Organization in n-Alkylammonium Sulfobetaine Zwitterions with High Thermal Stabilities and High Expansion Coefficients N2 - Sulfobetaine zwitterions made from n-alkyl dimethylamines and butanesultone yield a series of n-alkylammonium sulfobetaine zwitterions with complex self-organization behavior. The compounds are thermally quite stable and the length of the alkyl chain directly affects all phase transition temperatures of the compounds: the longer the alkyl chain, the higher the transition temperature. All compounds exhibit lamellar order and the different phases are characterized by a lower temperature orthorhombic and a higher temperature hexagonal in-plane order. The phase transition from the orthorhombic to the hexagonal phase is always associated with an increase of the long period. The phase transition is also associated with a rather high thermal expansion coefficient. KW - SAXS KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - Nanostructure PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-626276 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c02892 SN - 1520-5827 VL - 41 SP - 4422 EP - 4434 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-62627 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guitton-Spassky, Tiffany A1 - Schade, Boris A1 - Zoister, Christian A1 - Veronese, Eleonora A1 - Rosati, Marta A1 - Baldelli Bombelli, Francesca A1 - Cavallo, Gabriella A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Ghermezcheshme, Hassan A1 - Makki, Hesam A1 - Netz, Roland R. A1 - Ludwig, Kai A1 - Metrangolo, Pierangelo A1 - Singh, Abhishek Kumar A1 - Haag, Rainer T1 - Fluorinated Hexosome Carriers for Enhanced Solubility of Drugs N2 - Designing nanomaterials for drug encapsulation is a crucial, yet challenging, aspect for pharmaceutical development. An important step is synthesizing amphiphiles that form stable supramolecular systems for efficient drug loading. In the case of fluorinated drugs, these have superior properties and also a tendency toward reduced water solubility. For the first time, we report here fluorinated hexosome carriers made from nonionic dendritic amphiphiles, capable of encapsulating the fluorinated drug Leflunomide with high efficiency (62 ± 3%) and increasing its solubility by 12-fold. We synthesized amphiphiles with varying tail groups (fluorinated/alkylated), and their supramolecular self-assembly was investigated using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. Furthermore, Leflunomide and its equivalent nonfluorinated counterpart were encapsulated within fluorinated and nonfluorinated assemblies. Self-assembly and encapsulation mechanisms were well supported by coarse-grained molecular simulations, yielding a fundamental understanding of the new systems. KW - PEFAS KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - SAXS KW - Reference method PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-632002 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.5c00198 SN - 2691-3704 VL - 5 IS - 5 SP - 2223 EP - 2236 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-63200 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Qiang A1 - Heuchel, Matthias A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Machatscheck, Rainhard T1 - The role of diffusion in the hydrolytic degradation of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid): A molecular perspective N2 - This research emphasizes the importance of internal surface erosion as a key factor in the hydrolytic degradation of PLGA (poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid)) providing an alternative view of the established surface and bulk erosion degradation modes. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, this study reveals the role of water and oligomer diffusion during the degradation of PLGA and highlights the importance of water channels formed as the overall water content increases. We found that these continuous water channels play a crucial role in accelerating the transport of water and the release of degradation products from the polymer matrix, as the diffusion coefficients of water and small oligomers exhibit significant differences spanning 2 to 3 orders of magnitude between the water and polymer phases. Water follows a different diffusion mechanism than polymer fragments. The diffusion rate of the fragments up to a size of octamers was found to be size-dependent and reasonably well approximated by a 1/N behavior, in line with the Rouse model. KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - SAXS KW - Nanostructure KW - PLGA PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-621250 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2024.111119 VL - 232 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-62125 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kieserling, Helena A1 - Sieg, Holger A1 - Heilscher, Jasmin A1 - Drusch, Stephan A1 - Braeuning, Albert A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Rohn, Sascha T1 - Towards Understanding Particle-Protein Complexes: Physicochemical, Structural, and Cellbiological Characterization of β-Lactoglobulin Interactions with Silica, Polylactic Acid, and Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanoparticles N2 - Nanoplastic particles and their additives are increasingly present in the food chain, interacting with biomacromolecules with not yet known consequences. A protein corona forms around the particles in these usually complex matrices, primarily with a first contact at surface-active proteins. However, systematic studies on the interactions between the particles and proteins –especially regarding protein affinity and structural changes due to surface properties like polarity – are limited. It is also unclear whether the protein corona can "mask" the particles, mimic protein properties, and induce cytotoxic effects when internalized by mammalian cells. This study aimed at investigating the physicochemical properties of model particle-protein complexes, the structural changes of adsorbed proteins, and their effects on Caco-2 cells. Whey protein β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) was used as a well-characterized model protein and studied in a mixture with nanoparticles of varying polarity, specifically silica, polylactic acid (PLA), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The physicochemical analyses included measurements of the hydrodynamic diameter and the zeta potential, while the protein conformational changes were analyzed using Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and intrinsic fluorescence. Cellular uptake in Caco-2 cells was assessed through flow cytometry, cell viability was measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium-bromide (MTT) assay, and cellular impedance was analyzed with xCELLigence® technology. The results indicated that β-Lg had the highest affinity for hydrophilic silica particles, forming silica-β-Lg complexes and large aggregates through electrostatic interactions. The affinity decreased for PLA and was lowest for hydrophobic PET, which formed smaller complexes. Adsorption onto silica caused partial unfolding and refolding of β-Lg. The silica-β-Lg complexes were internalized by Caco-2 cells, impairing cell proliferation. In contrast, PLA- and PET-protein complexes were not internalized, though PLA complexes slightly reduced cell viability. This study enhances our understanding of protein adsorption on nanoparticles and its potential biological effects. KW - Nanoplastics KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Scattering KW - DLS PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-630093 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2025.114702 SN - 1873-4367 VL - 253 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier BV CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-63009 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -