Generation-Dependent Host-Guest Interactions: Solution States of Polyglycerol Dendrimers of Generations 3 and 4 Modulate the Localization of a Guest Molecule

Hydrotropic Hydrogels Prepared from Polyglycerol Dendrimers: Enhanced Solubilization and Release of Paclitaxel

Polyglycerol dendrimers (PGD) exhibit unique properties such as drug delivery, drug solubilization, bioimaging, and diagnostics. In this study, PGD hydrogels were prepared and evaluated as devices for controlled drug release with good solubilization properties. The PGD hydrogels were prepared by crosslinking using ethylene glycol diglycidylether (EGDGE). The concentrations of EGDGE and PGDs were varied. The hydrogels were swellable in ethanol for loading paclitaxel (PTX). The amount of PTX in the hydrogels increased with the swelling ratio, which is proportional to EGDGE/OH ratio, meaning that heterogeneous crosslinking of PGD made high dense region of PGD molecules in the matrix. The hydrogels remained transparent after loading PTX and standing in water for one day, indicating that PTX was dispersed in the hydrogels without any crystallization in water. The results of FTIR imaging of the PTX-loaded PGD hydrogels revealed good dispersion of PTX in the hydrogel matrix. Sixty percent of the loaded PTX was released in a sink condition within 90 min, suggesting that the solubilized PTX would be useful for controlled release without any precipitation. Polyglycerol dendrimer hydrogels are expected to be applicable for rapid release of poorly water-soluble drugs, e.g., for oral administration.

Effect of Branching Degree of Dendritic Polyglycerols on Plasma Protein Adsorption: Relationship between Hydration States and Surface Morphology

This study focuses on dendritic glycerols and investigates the construction of biocompatible surfaces by understanding how differences in the branching of these molecules change the interactions with the biological components. The two molecules, polyglycerol dendrimer (PGD), which has a completely branched structure, and hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG), which has an incompletely branched structure, are compared and the differences in branching are evaluated. It is shown that PGD has a little bit more intermediate water than HPG, which reflects the differences in the branching. The effect of surface state on the adsorption of the plasma proteins, human serum albumin (HSA), fibrinogen (Fib), and fibronectin (FN), is discussed by modifying a glass surface using these molecules with different hydration states. The adsorption of HSA decreases to several percent for HPG and 10% for PGD compared to unmodified substrate. Although the adsorption of Fib decreases to 5% for HPG, an increase to 150% is observed for PGD. Since this specific Fib adsorption observed only onto PGD is suppressed in the cases of a mixed solution of HSA and Fib or sequentially using HSA solution and then Fib solution, it is thought that the Vroman effect is suppressed on the PGD-modified surface. Furthermore, when AFM measurements are performed in PBS to understand the surface roughness, PGD is found to be more highly non-uniform. Because of this, the nanometer scale roughness that is significantly observed only on the PGD-modified surface is thought to have an effect on the characteristic adsorption properties of Fib. Thus, although both PGD and HPG with different branching have intermediate water, the proportion differs between PGD and HPG. Therefore, it is found that differences occur in the plasma protein adsorption mechanisms depending on the coordinates and density of hydroxyl groups within the molecules.

Metalation of polyamine dendrimers with ethynylcobalticenium for the construction of mono- and heterobimetallic polycationic metallodendrimers

The introduction of robust redox groups at the periphery of common amine-terminated dendrimers is of interest in the design of dendritic nanobatteries, sensors, and redox catalysts. Here we are applying the recently discovered uncatalyzed hydroamination of ethynylcobalticenium, a mild "green" reaction that quantitatively yields trans-enamines without the formation of any byproduct, to functionalize dendrimers that are terminated with primary or secondary amino groups. Poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendrimers terminated by primary amino groups and arene-centered dendrimers terminated by secondary amino groups yield dendrimers that contain up to 81 trans-enamine-cobalticenium termini using this reaction. The hydroamination reaction was also conducted with dendrimers that contained ferrocenylmethylamino groups, which yielded dendrimers that contained both ferrocenyl and cobalticenium termini. The size of the dendrimers was investigated using both dynamic light scattering and diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) (1)H NMR spectroscopy, and the number of electrons involved in heterogeneous multielectron transfers at electrodes was searched by cyclic voltammetry. The latter works well up to the 27-branch dendrimer, whereas the 81-dendrimer yielded a result in an excess amount (110 electrons) owing to adsorption onto the cathode that becomes all the more significant as the metallodendrimer size increases.