Andra-Cristina Enache

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Verified

Andra-Cristina verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Researcher at Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry

The development of botanical biofilters in the light of climate change issues, which can couple the advantage of C-capture from polluted air with their waste biomass valorization, is emerging. This paper evaluates the changes in physical-chemical-biological profile of aerial plants involved in such biosystems, for highlighting their functionality i...

Plastic pollution has escalated into a critical global issue, with production soaring from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to 400.3 million metric tons in 2022. The packaging industry alone accounts for nearly 44% of this production, predominantly utilizing polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Alarmingly, over 90% of the approximately 1 million PET bott...

Currently, ultrashort oligopeptides consisting of fewer than eight amino acids represent a cutting-edge frontier in materials science, particularly in the realm of hydrogel formation. By employing solid-phase synthesis with the Fmoc/tBu approach, a novel pentapeptide, FEYNF-NH2, was designed, inspired by a previously studied sequence chosen from he...

The utilization of spectrophotometric methods for the determination and analysis of proteins is of great interest as they are generally simple, rapid and with high sensitivity. These protein assays have many uses in the food, plant breeding, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries, as well as in forensic science and a variety of other research fie...

This study reports the valorization of pistachio shell agricultural waste, aiming to develop an eco-friendly and cost-effective biosorbent for cationic brilliant green (BG) dye adsorption from aqueous media. Pistachio shells were mercerized in an alkaline environment, resulting in the treated adsorbent (PSNaOH). The morphological and structural fea...

In this work, stabilized ionotropic hydrogels were designed using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and assessed as inexpensive sorbents for hazardous chemicals (e.g., Methylene Blue, MB) from contaminated wastewaters. In order to increase the adsorption capacity of the hydrogelated matrix and facilitate its magnetic separation from aqueous solu...

Herein, we report the results of a study on combining adsorption and ultrafiltration in a single-stage process to remove nitrite ions from contaminated water. As adsorbent, a surface-modified nanoclay was employed (i.e., Nanomer® I.28E, containing 25–30 wt. % trimethyl stearyl ammonium). Ultrafiltration experiments were conducted using porous polym...

Herein, we report the performance of some low-cost biosorbents developed by environment-friendly modification of walnut shells. Two types of biosorbents were prepared by ecological modification of walnut shell surfaces: (1) biosorbents obtained by hot water treatment (WSH2O) and (2) biosorbents produced by mercerization (WSNaOH). Different techniqu...

Herein, we report a new approach for the sulfonation of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) following a shorter path of reaction undertaken at 60 °C under ultrasonication. The application of this method enabled the reduction of the reaction time from several hours to less than one hour, achieving a relevant sulfonation degree. The sulfonated-PEEK (SPEEK)...

Eliminating or at least lessening the pain is a crucial aspect of burns management, as pain can negatively affect mental health and quality of life, and it can also induce a delay on wound healing. In this context, new amphiphilic chitosan 3D porous membranes were developed and investigated as burns therapeutic systems with analgesic effect for del...

Fluorescence detection is currently one of the commonly used techniques worldwide. Through this work, the preparation and optical properties of an interesting composite material are discussed. It is shown that encapsulating cobalt spinel ferrite (CoFe2O4), obtained by the sol-gel autocombustion method, into poly[diphenyl-co-methyl(H)]silane matrix...

Nowadays, very coarse wool fibers are considered waste biomass and are discarded at random or burned. Therefore, it is of actual interest to valorize coarse wool fibers as utile products. In this sense, we report herein an environmentally-friendly process for the preparation of a new material based on oxidized wool fibers and designed for efficient...

To avoid fungal spreading in the bloodstream and internal organs, many research efforts concentrate on finding appropriate candidiasis treatment from the initial stage. This paper proposes chitosan-based physically or chemically cross-linked hydrogels aimed to provide sustained release of micronized nystatin (NYSm) antifungal drug, known for its la...

The paper deals with new approaches to chitosan (CS)-based antifungal therapeutic formulations designed to fulfill the requirements of specific applications. Gel-like formulations were prepared by mixing CS dissolved in aqueous lactic acid (LA) solution with nystatin (NYS) powder and/or propolis (PRO) aqueous solution dispersed in glycerin, followe...

The study reported herein describes a chemometric approach, based on an artificial neural network (ANN), to predict the adsorption performance of a new hybrid material. This composite adsorbent with magnetic properties (magsorbent) consists of a cross-linked alginate matrix that incorporates inorganic nanoparticles of cobalt ferrite. Instrumental p...

Chitosan-sulfated titania composite membranes were prepared, characterized, and evaluated for potential application as polymer electrolyte membranes. To improve the chemical stability, the membranes were cross-linked using sulfuric acid, pentasodium triphosphate, and epoxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane. Differences in membranes’ structure, thickn...

Chitosan and chitosan‐modified polymers are one of the most studied materials of natural origin in their use as matrices for the preparation of drug delivery systems (DDSs). When choosing a polymer to be used as a matrix in the preparation of DDSs, one should consider its physicochemical (chemical structure/functionality, molecular weight, solubili...

The interest in developing new and more efficient materials and technologies for the removal of different pollutants from wastewater is constantly growing. This chapter reviews chitin and chitosan, together with their derivatives and composites, from the perspective of water purification applications, underlining their advantages for the removal of...

This paper reports a data-driven modeling methodology undertaken to establish the optimal formulation of NiFe2O4@Ca-alginate composite designed for adsorption applications. Adsorbents were produced as anisotropic plate-like particles that were applied for removal of Rhodamine-6G (Rh6G) and Methylene Blue (MB) cationic dyes from aqueous solutions. D...

The spinel ferrite CoFe1.98Sm0.02O4, prepared by sol-gel autocombustion technique using maleic acid as combustion agent, was successfully functionalized with chitosan (CS) and epichlorohydrine (ECH). The insertion of the samarium cations into the spinel matrix was proved by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared analyses. Likewise, the sp...

The paper focuses on the advances in the field of pain treatment by transdermal delivery of specific drugs. Starting from a short description of the skin barrier, the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics including absorption, distribution, action mechanism, metabolism and toxicity, aspects related to the use of pain therapy drugs are further discu...