Packaging material for food products with antimicrobial and antifungal properties including: a) a core layer of polymeric material including at least one active substance having antimicrobial and/or antifungal activity dispersed in the polymer matrix, b) a coating applied to a side of the core layer obtained from a lacquer or a polymeric paint including nano-fillers of a phyllosilicate or hydrotalcite, c) a coating for the release of an active antimicrobial or antifungal agent comprising encapsulated ethanol and a polymeric component selected from chitosan grafted with polyethylene glycol or cyclodextrin, a mixture of chitosan and polyethylene glycol and a polymer or mixture of polymers for printable paint applied to other side of the base layer; optionally the material further comprises: d) a coating with oxygen scavenger activity applied to the coating layer c) and/or a further coating e) including active substances of type b).

The present invention includes a hydrogel and a method of making a porous hydrogel by preparing an aqueous mixture of an uncrosslinked polymer and a crystallizable molecule; casting the mixture into a vessel; allowing the cast mixture to dry to form an amorphous hydrogel film; seeding the cast mixture with a seed crystal of the crystallizable molecule; growing the crystallizable molecule into a crystal structure within the uncrosslinked polymer; crosslinking the polymer around the crystal structure under conditions in which the crystal structure within the crosslinked polymer is maintained; and dissolving the crystals within the crosslinked polymer to form the porous hydrogel.

The present disclosure relates to remediation of contaminated environmental sites. In particular, the present disclosure relates to passive control compositions and their use in remediation.

Reversibly crosslinkable polymeric networks, including reversibly crosslinkable hydrogel networks are provided. Also provided are methods of making the polymeric networks and methods of using the hydrogel networks in tissue engineering applications. The reversibly crosslinkable polymeric networks are composed of polymer chains that are covalently crosslinked by azobenzene boronic ester bonds that can be reversibly formed and broken by exposing the polymeric networks to different wavelengths of light.

The present invention includes a hydrogel and a method of making a porous hydrogel by preparing an aqueous mixture of an uncrosslinked polymer and a crystallizable molecule; casting the mixture into a vessel; allowing the cast mixture to dry to form an amorphous hydrogel film; seeding the cast mixture with a seed crystal of the crystallizable molecule; growing the crystallizable molecule into a crystal structure within the uncrosslinked polymer; crosslinking the polymer around the crystal structure under conditions in which the crystal structure within the crosslinked polymer is maintained; and dissolving the crystals within the crosslinked polymer to form the porous hydrogel.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a porous material, at least comprising the steps of providing a mixture (I) comprising a water soluble polysaccharide, at least one compound suitable to react as cross-linker for the polysaccharide or to release a cross-linker for the polysaccharide, and water, and preparing a gel (A) comprising exposing mixture (I) to carbon dioxide at a pressure in the range of from 20 to 100 bar for a time sufficient to form a gel (A), and depressurizing the gel (A). Gel (A) subsequently is exposed to a water miscible solvent (L) to obtain a gel (B), which is dried. The invention further relates to the porous materials which can be obtained in this way and the use of the porous materials as thermal insulation material, for cosmetic applications, for biomedical applications or for pharmaceutical applications.

A plastic gel material for preventing spontaneous combustion of coal, including water, a crosslinking agent, a toughener, a coagulant, an aggregate and a water glass. The crosslinking agent (AlCit) is prepared by mixing a polyaluminum chloride solution and a citric acid solution then neutralizing the mixture with a sodium hydroxide solution. The coagulant is one or more of potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate or glucono-δ-lactone (GDL). The toughener is one or more of pregelatinized starch, sodium alginate, carboxymethyl cellulose or polyacrylamide. The aggregate is coal ash or bentonite. The plastic gel has good water retention, toughness and inhibition performance, and helps avoid easy cracking and pulverization in inorganic silica gel consolidating bodies after losing water. The plastic gel can cover the surface of burning coal mass, reduce the temperature of the ignition source, heat radiation and production amount of CO, and have a fire extinguishing effect.

The present invention relates to the formation of gels. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method of forming a cross-linked polymer hydrogel using competitive ligand exchange.

Hydrogel compositions, and corresponding methods of making, are provided. The hydrogels do not freeze, or only partially freeze, over a wide range of temperatures below the freezing temperature of water. Concurrently, these hydrogels also retain their room temperature mechanical properties (e.g., strength, modulus, elasticity) over a wide range of temperatures, including temperatures below the freezing temperature of water. The hydrogels are synthesized by adding a suitable amount of a salt together with previously cross-linked polymer gel. Hydration of the gel with aqueous solutions containing the prescribed salts not only depresses the hydrogel freezing point but protects the structure. For example, the salts do not allow the hydrogel to completely freeze, thus protecting the hydrogel from brittle failure. Whether the hydrogels partially freeze or remain non-frozen when chilled below the freezing temperature of water is determined by concentration of salt within the hydrogel.

A shear-thinning hydrogel composition includes: a first polymer chain including: (i) a first plurality of units each having at least one of a monosaccharide and an amino acid; and (ii) a cross-linking group bound to the at least one of the monosaccharide and the amino acid of one of the first plurality of units via conversion of a carboxyl group of the unit to a peptide bond; a second polymer chain including a second plurality of the units; and a cross-linking additive connecting one of the second plurality of units to the first polymer chain via the cross-linking group.