1,1- Bis(3’-indolyl)-l-(p-methoxyphenyl)methane (DIM- C- pPhOCH.3) is a methylenc - substituted diindolylmethanes (C-DIM) ana log that acti vates the orphan receptOl‘ nerve growth factor-induced-B (NGFI-B, Nur77) , RNA inteference studies with small inhibitory RNA for Nur77 demonstrate that DIM-C-pPhOCH:J induces Nur77-dependent and - independent apoptosis, and this study has focused on delineating the Nur77-independent proapoptotic pathways induced by the C-DIM analog DIM-C-pPhOCH3 induced caspase-dependent apoptosis in RKO colon cancer cells through decreased mitochondrial membrane potential which is accompanied by increased mitochondrial bax/bcl-2 ratios and release of cytochrome c into the cytosol DlM-C一pPhOCH.3 also induced phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-dependent activation of early growth response gene-l whi ch, in turn, induced expression of the proapoptotic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug- activated gene-l (NAG- l) in colon tumors in athyrnic nude mice bearing RKO cells as xenografts, DIM-C-pPhOCH.3 also activated the extrinsic apoptosis pathway through increased phosphorylation of c- jun N-terminal kinase which, in turn, activated C/EBP homologous transcription factor (CHOP) and death receptor 5 (DR5) , Thus, the effectiveness of DIM-C-pPhOCH.3 as a tumor growth inhibitor is through activation of Nur77-dependent and -independent pathways

Branched sulfonated poly(ether sulfone-ketone) copolymer was prepared with bisphenol A, 4,4-difluorobenzophenone, sulfonated chlorophenyl sulfone (40mole% of bisphenol A) and THPE (1,1,1-tris-p-hydroxyphenylethane). THPE was used 0.4 mol% of bisphenol A to synthesize branched copolymers. Organic-inorganic nano composite membranes were prepared with copolymer and a series of nanoparticles (20 nm, 4, 7 and 10 wt%). The composite membranes were cast from dimethylsulfoxide solutions. The films were converted from the salt to acid forms with dilute hydrochloric acid. The membranes were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Sorption experiments were conducted to observe the interaction of sulfonated polymers with water and methanol. Branched copolymer and nano composite membranes exhibit proton conductivities from to , water uptake from 52.9 to 62.4%, IEC from 0.81 to 1.21 meq/g and methanol diffusion coefficients from to .

Novel bisphenol-based wholly aromatic poly(ether sulfone-ketone) copolymer containing pendant sulfonate groups were prepared by direct aromatic nucleophilic substitution polycondensation of 4,4-difluorobenzophenone, 2,2'-disodiumsulfonyl-4,4'-fluorophenylsulfone (40mole% of bisphenol A) and bisphenol A. Polymerization proceeded quantitatively to high molecular weight in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone at . Organic-inorganic composite membranes were obtained by mixing organic polymers with hydrophilic (ca. 20nm) obtained by sol-gel process. The polymer and a series of composite membranes were studied by FT-IR, , differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal stability. The proton conductivity as a function of temperature decreased as content increased, but methanol permeability decreased. The nano composite membranes were found to posse all requisite properties; Ion exchange capacity (1.2meq./g), glass transition temperatures , and low affinity towards methanol .