Leonardo Mattiello

Sustainable polyurethanes: from bio-based feedstocks and circular strategies to industrially relevant applications.

Clear aligner therapy (CAT) increasingly relies on composite-based attachments to improve force transmission and aligner retention, yet the role of flowable composite properties in clinical performance remains poorly understood. In this study, five commercially available flowable composites used for orthodontic attachments—Aligner FLOW LC, SIMPLY SHADE, SOFT ENA Flow, TETRIC EvoFlow, and VENUS Bulk Flow One—were comparatively investigated through physicochemical, morphological, optical, thermal, and rheological characterization. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, UV–Vis–NIR and ATR–FTIR spectroscopy, and rheological measurements before and after curing were employed to probe composition, filler content, viscoelastic behavior, and mechanical response. The results revealed marked differences among the investigated materials, with post-curing storage modulus spanning nearly two orders of magnitude, from 0.06 MPa for SOFT ENA Flow to approximately 5 MPa for SIMPLY SHADE. Similarly, the elastic modulus ranged from about 20 MPa to nearly 1000 MPa for the softest and stiffest resins, respectively. Interestingly, SOFT ENA Flow, the softest material after curing, also exhibited the highest pre-curing viscosity, nearly one order of magnitude greater than the least viscous resin, Aligner FLOW LC. These findings highlight an intrinsic trade-off between pre-cure processability and post-cure mechanical stability, providing a rational framework for material selection in orthodontic attachments and supporting more predictable and durable CAT outcomes.

Objective. In the fight against cancer, improving the detectors performance is crucial to enhance diagnostic accuracy and optimize therapeutic monitoring. Current clinical SPECT systems predominantly rely on NaI(Tl) crystals, which, despite their advantages, suffer from limited count-rate performance due to long scintillation decay times. Our goal is to address this limitation by developing an innovative class of plastic scintillators doped with high-Z elements. These materials combine the fast timing characteristics of organic scintillators with improved gamma-ray detection efficiency via enhanced photoelectric interaction probability. Methods. Our research has focused on synthesizing novel organic fluorophores to fabricate plastic scintillators doped with high-Z elements with concentrations up to 10%. Moreover, we explored different fabrication techniques, including thermal polymerisation, photoinitiated polymerisation and resin 3D-printing. Results. The resulting prototypes show promising characteristics in terms of optical transparency, dopant homogeneity, light yield and timing performance, reaching levels comparable with commercial standards. Conclusions. These novel scintillators will be at the core of a next-generation SPECT detector, in which the doped scintillators are polymerized directly into the holes of a 3D-printed tungsten collimator, with signal readout performed by tiled CMOS sensors to fully exploit the plastics’ timing properties, and FPGA modules for data pre-processing. Moreover, they will serve for the development of a compact portable dosimeter tailored for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients undergoing Lu-177-PSMA-617 radio-metabolic therapy. This device is designed to retrieve the radiopharmaceutical washout curve without requiring multiple SPECT scans, in order to customize the radiopharmaceutical prescription by determining the patient-specific radiometabolic parameters.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive molecules that, when produced in excess, contribute to oxidative stress, promoting cellular damage and the progression of various diseases, including cancer. Polydatin (PD) is known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic properties, proving effective in several in vitro studies as an antitumor agent. However, its clinical application is limited by low bioavailability, poor water solubility, and chemical instability. To overcome these limitations, nanocarrier systems based on biopolymers, such as chitosan (CS), represent promising strategies for drug delivery. In this study, we developed and optimized CS nanocapsules loaded with Polydatin using the ionotropic gelation method. The final formulation was characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and dynamic and dielectrophoretic light scattering (DLS, DELS). Encapsulation efficiency (EE) and the biological effects of the nanocapsules on cancer cells were also evaluated. To assess their antitumor potential, PD-CS nanoparticles were tested on the human breast cancer SKBR3 cells, analyzing their effects on cell viability. The results demonstrate that CS nanocapsules loaded with PD are able to reduce SKBR3 cell proliferation, highlighting their potential for developing new therapeutic tools for cancer treatment.

In this work, nanocellulose aqueous dispersions were studied as a bio-inspired consolidating agent for the recovery and conservation of ancient wood and compared with two of the most used traditional consolidants: the synthetic resins Paraloid B-72 and Regalrez 1126. The morphology of crystalline nanocellulose (CNC), determined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), presents with a rod-like shape, with a size ranging between 15 and 30 nm in width. Chemical characterization performed using the Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) technique provides information on surface modifications, in this case, demonstrating the presence of only the characteristic peaks of nanocellulose. Moreover, conductometric, pH, and dry matter measurements were carried out, showing also in this case values perfectly conforming to what is found in the literature. The treated wood samples were observed under an optical microscope in reflected light and under a scanning electron microscope to determine, respectively, the damage caused by xylophages and the morphology of the treated surfaces. The images acquired show the greater similarity of the surfaces treated with nanocellulose to untreated wood, compared with other consolidating agents. Finally, a colorimetric analysis of these samples was also carried out before and after a first consolidation treatment, and after a second treatment carried out on the same samples three years later. The samples treated with CNC appeared very homogeneous and uniform, without alterations in their final color appearance, compared to other traditional synthetic products.

Oligomeric compounds can be considered from two points of view: polymer chemistry often sees them as undesired by-products of polymerization processes or, more fruitfully, synthesizes them as structural models for polymers, while organic chemistry synthesizes oligomers, with a typical bottom-up approach, starting from the respective monomers. Conjugated oligomers play a fundamental role in the field of organic semiconductors and therefore in the field of industrial and high-tech applications. Electrochemistry can make a significant contribution to the field of oligomers by rendering the syntheses more expeditious in comparison with the classical organic ones. The electrochemical approach may offer several advantages over the traditional organic synthesis. For example, cleaner and more sustainable syntheses and simpler and shorter synthetic pathways. This review outlines the application of electrochemistry techniques in the synthesis of oligomers.