Branson 2800

Withania somnifera leaf extracts (i-Extract; i-Ex) were prepared as described earlier (1 (link)). Ten mg i-Ex, 5 mg DSPE-PEG-Folate (1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[folate(polyethylene glycol)]) (Nanosoft Polymers, Lewisville, NC, USA) and 10 mg DSPE-PEG-NH2 (N-(aminopropyl polyoxyethylene oxycarbonyl)-1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) (SUNBRIGHT DSPE-020PA; Yuka Sangyo, Tokyo, Japan) were briefly dissolved in 10 ml of double distilled Milli-Q water by bath sonication (power output, 80 W; oscillation frequency, 40 kHz) (Branson 2800; Branson Ultrasonics, Kanagawa, Japan). After gentle stirring for 1 h at room temperature, the mixture was subjected to pulse-type sonication (VCX-600; Sonics, Danbury, CT, USA) for 10 min, followed by centrifugation at 1,000 rpm for 10 min at 20°C (model no. 3740; Kubota, Tokyo, Japan). The FRi-ExNC in the supernatant was collected and used for subsequent experiments. The same protocol was applied for i-ExNC preparation except that the DSPE-PEG-Folate was replaced with an equal mass of DSPE-PEG. Fluorescent nanocomplexes were prepared a the similar way with an additional 1 mg of Nile Red (Wako) in the mixture.

HEMA (4.8 g, 37 mmol), Irgacure 651 (0.024 g, 0.085 mmol), EGDMA, and PEGMA at different molar ratios (Table 1) were placed into Schlenk flasks; deionized water (80 wt% with respect to HEMA) was used as solvent, and oxygen was displaced by bubbling argon for 6 min. In order to obtain homogeneous solutions, the solutions were sonicated using an ultrasonic bath Branson 2800 (Branson Ultrasonics, Danbury, CT, USA) for 5 min; afterwards, samples of PET fabric were introduced in the Schlenk flasks. Oxygen was thoroughly displaced by using three freeze-thaw cycles using a dry ice/acetone bath and argon flow. Afterwards, the flasks, filled with argon, were sealed, and stored for 12 h inside a refrigerator in order to allow the swelling of the fabric.
Then, the fabrics were removed from the soaking solution and were placed between two glass plates of 10 cm × 10 cm, sealed with a silicone spacer (1 mm thickness), and the samples were irradiated using lamps of wavelength of 350 nm for 30 min inside a RMR 200 Rayonet Photochemical Chamber Reactor (Palisades Park, NJ, USA) under argon atmosphere. Residual monomers and other compounds were extracted by washing with successive ethanol/water mixtures with increasing ratio of deionized water; finally, the samples were dried under vacuum until constant weight.