•A new tris(dopamine) derivative has been prepared and characterized.•Cytotoxicity was assessed employing rat pheochromocytoma cell lines in vitro.•Antioxidant property was evaluated via the DPPH· (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assays.•The tris(dopamine) derivative has effective binding ability and selectivity to ferric ion.A new tris(dopamine) derivative, containing three dopamine chelate moieties which were attached to a trimesic acid molecular scaffold, has been prepared and fully characterized by NMR, FTIR and HRMS. The solution thermodynamic stability of the chelator with Fe(III), Mg(II), Zn(II) and Fe(II) ions was investigated. Results demonstrated that the chelator exhibited effective binding ability and improved selectivity to Fe(III) ion. The chelator possessed affinity similar to that of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid chelator for Fe(III) ion. The high affinity could be attributed to the favorable geometric arrangement between the chelator and Fe(III) ion coordination preference. The chelator also exhibited high antioxidant activity and nontoxicity to neuron-like rat pheochromocytoma cells. Hence, the chelator could be used as chelating agent for iron overload situations without depleting essential metal ions, such as Mg(II) and Zn(II) ions.A new tris(dopamine) derivative has been prepared. The phenolic compound produced higher antioxidant property and nontoxicity to neuron-like rat pheochromocytoma cells. Meanwhile, it has effective binding ability and better selectivity to ferric ion.Download high-res image (175KB)Download full-size image

A new energetic polymer, polyvinyl acetate azide (PVAA), was synthesized via a two-step process involving initial chloroacetylation and subsequent azidation of poly(vinyl alcohol) and was characterized by elemental analysis, UV–Vis, ATR–FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR techniques. The glass-transition temperature of PVAA was evaluated by DSC method and the thermal stability of PVAA was tested by DTA and TGA methods. The results indicate that PVAA shows single glass-transition temperature at 24.60 °C and exhibits good resistance to thermal decomposition up to 200 °C. Moreover, the sensitivity properties of PVAA were measured with the national military standard methods and the compatibilities of PVAA with the energetic components of TNT-based melt cast explosives were studied by using the non-isothermal DSC method. The results indicate that PVAA is an insensitive energetic polymer and can be safely used in melt cast explosives.