Zinc acetate

Human recombinant insulin (Insugen-30/70) was supplied by Biocon (India) Ltd. See Additional file 1: Table S1a. Human recombinant insulin, Intergen (II) was produced by the INTERGEN Company and purchased by Sakabe [8 ] from the SEIKAGAKU Company. Details are to be found in Additional file 1: Figure S2b. Other chemicals including HCl, zinc acetate, acetone, trisodium citrate and NaOH were purchased from Fisher Scientific (UK) and Sigma-Aldrich (UK).

All chemicals were used without purification. The ammonium hydroxide solution (NH₄OH in H₂O, 30–33%), methanol (CH₃OH, 99.99%), and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS, 99.99%) were obtained from Sigma‐Aldrich (Saint Louis, MO, US). Ethanol (C₂H₅OH, 99.8%) was purchased from Thermo Fisher Chemical (Waltham, Massachusetts, US). (1‐Hexadecyl) trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB, 98%), zinc acetate (Zn(CH₃COO)₂, 99.98%), tin(II) chloride (99%), and chromium(III) nitrate nonahydrate (Cr(NO₃)₃·9H₂O, 98.5%) were obtained from Alfa Aesar (Haverhill, MA,USA). Gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃, 99.99%) was procured from Gredmann. Nitric acid (HNO₃, 69–70%) was from J. T. Baker (Phillipsburg, NJ, USA). The Keratinocyte Serum‐Free Growth (K‐SFM) and Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI 1640) media were purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Massachusetts, US) for cell seeding. The Beas2B normal lung bronchus cells used K‐SFM medium, and A549 and CL1‐5 lung cancer cells were incubated in RPMI 1640 medium. The penicillin–streptomycin–glutamine (PSG) supplement for culture media was purchased from GIBCO (Waltham, MA, USA).

Cadmium oxide (CdO, 99.99%), selenium (Se, −200 mesh, 99.999%), zinc acetate (Zn(ac)₂, 99.99%), sulfur (S, 99%), oleic acid (OA, 90%), 1-octadecene (ODE, 90%), tri-n-octylphosphine (TOP, 97%), magnesium acetate tetrahydrate ((CH₃COO)₂Mg·4 H₂O, 99.997%) and 2-methoxyethanol (CH₃OCH₃CH₃OH, 99.3%) were purchased from Alfa Aesar. Ethanolamine (99.5%), Poly(amidoamine)dendrimers (PAD), methanol (99.8%) and toluene (99.8%) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich. Tris(4-carbazoyl-9-ylphenyl)amine (TCTA, 99.5%) was purchased from Lumtec. All chemicals were used as is without additional purification.

Tryptic Soy Broth (T.S.B.) Culture media and agar were procured from Hi-media (HiMedia Laboratories LLC, Kennett Square, PA, USA). Zinc acetate and graphite powder were purchased from Fischer Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA). Curcumin of 99% purity was purchased from the Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA (Supelco, Bellefonte, PA, USA). The Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC BAA-1708 and ATCC 43300) bacterial strains were procured from the A.T.C.C (Manassas, VA, USA). The standard strains were sub-cultured in Tryptic Soy Broth (T.S.B.). The cultures were stored at −20 °C in 20% glycerol for long-term preservation. All experiments were carried out with freshly grown cultures. All other chemicals and solvents used were of analytical grade and acquired locally. Details of the chemicals and animal studies are described in the “Material and Methods” Section of the Supplementary Information (S.I. file). Each animal-related study was executed according to the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Research workplace Animals, as communicated by the Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, and collaboration of Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.

Zinc acetate (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA), Pluronic F-127 (extra pure, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA), methyl alcohol, (CH₂OH; Rankem Chemicals, Faridabad, India), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) were used as received without further purification.