Structure and Mechanical Response of Polybutylcarbosilane Dendrimers Confined in a Flat Slit: Effect of Molecular Architecture and Generation Number

Due to the absence of specific interactions, carbosilane dendrimers are ideal models to study the effect of a hyperbranched regular structure on the molecular response to external influences. In this work, we have studied the conformational behavior of single polybutylcarbosilane dendrimers under confinement between impermeable flat surfaces using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Dendrimers of different generations belonging to two homologous series with a tetra-functional core and three- and four-functional branches were simulated. The analysis of the dependence of the internal energy of the dendrimers on the wall distance allowed us to determine the critical degree of compression at which the dendrimers are able to change their shape without energy loss. The effects of generation number and branching functionality on the number of wall contacts, density distribution and shape changes were elucidated. It was found that for high generation dendrimers, the inner layers are not accessible for external interaction. It was shown that the excess stresses occurring at high compressions are concentrated in the structural center of the dendrimer. The nature of the elastic response, which is strongly nonlinear, was analyzed at different compressions depending on the dendrimer architecture and generation. We believe that our results are useful for further studies of dendrimer films under compression and can also serve as a basis for developing model concepts to describe the dynamics of dendrimer melts.

Theory of chain walking catalysis: From disordered dendrimers to dendritic bottle-brushes

The chain walking (CW) polymerization technique has the unique property of a movable catalyst synthesizing its own path by creating branch-on-branch structures. By successive attachment of monomers, the resulting architecture ranges from dendritic to linear growth depending on the walking rate, which is defined by the ratio of walking steps and reaction events of the catalyst. The transition regime is characterized by local dendritic sub-structures (dendritic blobs) and a global linear chain feature forming a dendritic bottle-brush. A scaling model for structures obtained by CW catalysis is presented and validated by computer simulation relating the extensions of CW structures to the catalyst’s walking ability. The limiting case of linear (low walking rate) and dendritic growth (high walking rate) is recovered, and the latter is shown to bear analogies to the Barabási–Albert graph and Bernoulli growth random walk. We could quantify the size of the dendritic blob as a function of the walking rate by using spectral properties of the connectivity matrix of the simulated macromolecules. This allows us to fit the numerical constants in the scaling approach. We predict that independent of the underlying chemical process, all CW polymerization syntheses involving a highly mobile catalyst ultimately result in bottle-brush structures whose properties depend on a unique parameter: the walking rate.

Binding mechanisms in dendrimer-surfactant complexes

Molecular dynamics simulations were employed to investigate the impact of interactions between dendritic polyeclectrolytes and amphiphilic surfactants on the supramolecular complex formation. We recognize two crucial parameters that govern association of surfactants within dendrimers: surfactant hydrophobicity, ε^{*}, and dendrimer generation, G. We find that depending on the values of ε^{*} and G encapsulation of surfactants by dendrimers is either noncooperative or cooperative. The noncooperative binding is characterized by absorption of surfactants as unimers, whereas in cooperative binding absorption of unimers is followed by aggregate formation through hydrophobic attractions between the surfactant tails. Our results provide guidelines for controlled encapsulation of guest molecules in dendrimer-based guest-host complexes.

Spatial segregation of mixed-sized counterions in dendritic polyelectrolytes

Langevin dynamics simulations are utilized to study the structure of a dendritic polyelectrolyte embedded in two component mixtures comprised of conventional (small) and bulky counterions. We vary two parameters that trigger conformational properties of the dendrimer: the reduced Bjerrum length, [Formula: see text], which controls the strength of electrostatic interactions and the number fraction of the bulky counterions, [Formula: see text], which impacts on their steric repulsion. We find that the interplay between the electrostatic and the counterion excluded volume interactions affects the swelling behavior of the molecule. As compared to its neutral counterpart, for weak electrostatic couplings the charged dendrimer exists in swollen conformations whose size remains unaffected by [Formula: see text]. For intermediate couplings, the absorption of counterions into the pervaded volume of the dendrimer starts to influence its conformation. Here, the swelling factor exhibits a maximum which can be shifted by increasing [Formula: see text]. For strong electrostatic couplings the dendrimer deswells correspondingly to [Formula: see text]. In this regime a spatial separation of the counterions into core-shell microstructures is observed. The core of the dendrimer cage is preferentially occupied by the conventional ions, whereas its periphery contains the bulky counterions.

Hybrid Polycarbosilane-Siloxane Dendrimers: Synthesis and Properties

A series of carbosilane dendrimers of the 4th, 6th, and 7th generations with a terminal trimethylsilylsiloxane layer was synthesized. Theoretical models of these dendrimers were developed, and equilibrium dendrimer conformations obtained via molecular dynamics simulations were in a good agreement with experimental small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data demonstrating molecule monodispersity and an almost spherical shape. It was confirmed that the glass transition temperature is independent of the dendrimer generation, but is greatly affected by the chemical nature of the dendrimer terminal groups. A sharp increase in the zero-shear viscosity of dendrimer melts was found between the 5th and the 7th dendrimer generations, which was qualitatively identical to that previously reported for polycarbosilane dendrimers with butyl terminal groups. The viscoelastic properties of high-generation dendrimers seem to follow some general trends with an increase in the generation number, which are determined by the regular branching structure of dendrimers.

Mechanistic Understanding From Molecular Dynamics Simulation in Pharmaceutical Research 1: Drug Delivery

In this review, we outline the growing role that molecular dynamics simulation is able to play as a design tool in drug delivery. We cover both the pharmaceutical and computational backgrounds, in a pedagogical fashion, as this review is designed to be equally accessible to pharmaceutical researchers interested in what this new computational tool is capable of and experts in molecular modeling who wish to pursue pharmaceutical applications as a context for their research. The field has become too broad for us to concisely describe all work that has been carried out; many comprehensive reviews on subtopics of this area are cited. We discuss the insight molecular dynamics modeling has provided in dissolution and solubility, however, the majority of the discussion is focused on nanomedicine: the development of nanoscale drug delivery vehicles. Here we focus on three areas where molecular dynamics modeling has had a particularly strong impact: (1) behavior in the bloodstream and protective polymer corona, (2) Drug loading and controlled release, and (3) Nanoparticle interaction with both model and biological membranes. We conclude with some thoughts on the role that molecular dynamics simulation can grow to play in the development of new drug delivery systems.

Effects of generation number, spacer length and temperature on the structure and intramolecular dynamics of siloxane dendrimer melts: molecular dynamics simulations

The structure and properties of polysiloxane dendrimer melts are studied by extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Two homologous series differing in the spacer length are considered. In the first series the dendrimer spacers are the shortest ones, comprising only one oxygen atom, while in the second series the spacers consist of two oxygen atoms with the silicon atom in between. Melts of the dendrimers from the 3rd up to the 6th generation number are modelled in a wide temperature range from 273 to 600 K. A comparative study of the macroscopic melt characteristics such as the melt density and thermal expansion coefficients is performed for the two series. Analysis of the dendrimer structure in melts and in the isolated state shows that intermolecular interactions and interpenetration of dendrimer molecules in melts hardly affect the dendrimer interior organization. However, the presence of neighboring molecules significantly slows down their intramolecular dynamics in melts in comparison with that of isolated dendrimers. An increasing generation number causes an increase of the radius of the dendrimer interior region unavailable for neighboring molecules, which starts to exceed the length of the peripheral interpenetration layer for high-generation dendrimers; this fact could lead to different mechanisms of melt dynamics for lower and higher generation dendrimers.

A Comparative Study of Intramolecular Mobility of Single Siloxane and Carbosilane Dendrimers via Molecular Dynamics Simulations

A comparative analysis of intramolecular dynamics of four types of isolated dendrimers from the fourth to the seventh generations belonging to the siloxane and carbosilane families, differing in spacer length, core functionality, and the type of chemical bonds, has been performed via atomic molecular dynamics simulations. The average radial and angular positions of all Si branching atoms of various topological layers within the dendrimer interior, as well as their variations, have been calculated, and the distributions of the relaxation times of their radial and angular motions have been found. It has been shown that the dendrons of all the dendrimers elongate from the center and decrease in a solid angle with an increasing generation number. The characteristic relaxation times of both angular and radial motions of Si atoms are of the order of a few nanoseconds, and they increase with an increasing generation number and decrease with temperature, with the angular relaxation times being larger than the radial ones. The relaxation times in the carbosilanes are larger than those in the siloxanes. The rotational angle dynamics of the carbosilane dendrimers show that the chain bending is mainly realized via trans-gauche transitions in the Si branching bonds.

Dendritic polyelectrolytes revisited through the Poisson-Boltzmann-Flory theory and the Debye-Hückel approximation

The properties of a dendritic polyelectrolyte in equilibrium with a reservoir of monovalent salts are investigated using the cell model and the Poisson-Boltzmann-Flory theory. Within this approach we use the Debye-Hückel approximation to solve the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and minimize the semi-grand potential of the system with respect to the size of the molecule which enables us to inspect its conformations as well as the electric field, the ionic density profile, the overall charge density, the effective charge of the dendrimer and the osmotic pressure based on their response to the salt concentration and the dendrimer charge. The model predicts pronounced trapping of salt ions, a local charge neutrality and a zero electric field in the volume of the molecule as well as oscillations of the density profiles and the electric field in the vicinity of the dendrimer-bulk interface. As a result of ion trapping and screening of Coulomb interactions monovalent salts are found to have a minor effect on the size of the dendrimer. Specifically, the dendrimer exists in slightly swollen states as compared to the neutral molecule which indicates that the conformational properties of the polyelectrolyte depend weakly on monovalent salts. These observations harmonise with the equilibrium behavior of the dendrimer pressure, the internal pressure and the bulk pressure, respectively.

Molecular dynamics simulations of single siloxane dendrimers: Molecular structure and intramolecular mobility of terminal groups

Molecular dynamics simulations of two types of isolated siloxane dendrimers of various generations (from the 2nd to the 8th) have been performed for temperatures ranging from 150 K to 600 K. The first type of dendrimer molecules has short spacers consisting of a single oxygen atom. In the dendrimers of the second type, spacers are longer and comprised of two oxygen atoms separated by a single silicon atom. A comparative analysis of molecular macroscopic parameters such as the gyration radius and the shape factor as well as atom distributions within dendrimer interior has been performed for varying generation number, temperature, and spacer length. It has been found that the short-spacer dendrimers of the 7th and 8th generations have a stressed central part with elongated bonds and deformed valence angles. Investigation of the time evolution of radial displacements of the terminal Si atoms has shown that a fraction of the Si groups have a reduced mobility. Therefore, rather long time trajectories (of the order of tens of nanoseconds) are required to study dendrimer intramolecular dynamics.

Dendritic polyelectrolytes as seen by the Poisson–Boltzmann–Flory theory

The conformational and electrostatic properties of dendritic polyelectrolytes accompanied by counterions are investigated using the Poisson–Boltzmann–Flory theory.

Molecular dynamics simulation studies of hyperbranched polyglycerols and their encapsulation behaviors of small drug molecules

Computer simulation could disclose more details about the conformations of HPGs and their encapsulation behaviors of guest molecules.

Flattening of Dendrimers from Solutions onto Charged Surfaces

The adsorption of dendrimers onto charged surfaces plays a role in many emerging applications. Numerous studies found in the literature report that dendrimers flatten at these interfaces. Here, we provide a simple scaling theory that describes the height of the adsorbed layer, the fraction of segments within the dendrimer that touch the surface, and the total number of dendrimers adsorbed as a function of generation of growth, surface charge density, and concentration. We demonstrate that these predictions agree well with extensive molecular dynamics simulations. Combined, the simulations and scaling argument indicate that simultaneous adsorption and compression at the interface take place.