Here, we show that Au nanoparticles having diameters of less than 2.2 nm can be extracted from within the interior of PAMAM dendrimers using n-alkanethiol extractants. Extraction proceeds quickly, regardless of the size of the nanoparticle, the dendrimer generation, or the peripheral functionalization of the dendrimer. The extraction rate is fastest for the lowest generation dendrimers, the sma...

In this study, the host-guest behavior of poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers bearing amine, hydroxyl, or carboxylate surface functionalities were investigated by paramagnetic NMR studies. 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidinyloxy (TEMPO) derivatives were used as paramagnetic guest molecules. The results showed that TEMPO-COOH significantly broaden the ¹H NMR peaks of amine- and hydroxyl-terminated PAM...

Capecitabine, an effective anticancer drug in colorectal cancer chemotherapy, may create adverse side effects on healthy tissues. In the present study, we first induced colon adenocarcinoma with azoxymethane, a carcinogen agent, and then investigated the potentiality of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer to improve capecitabine therapeutic index and decrease its adverse side effects on healthy ti...

Protein expression monitoring can be a good tool to determine disease onset and progression, and is also used in drug discovery and investigational science (1–4). However, commonly used assays lack the sensitivity and specificity required for the detection of low-abundance proteins (5,6). Several signal amplification technologies have been designed and applied to protein detection assays, inclu...

Dendritic polymer nanoparticles (NPs) are promising vehicles for drug delivery. Most dendrimer NPs, however, exhibit positive surface charge which make them, in many instances, cytotoxic. We constructed noncationic, amphiphilic NPs embedding curcumin and resveratrol, natural polyphenols exhibiting anticancer properties. The curcumin/resveratrol/dendrimer both effectively shielded the embedded f...

The electrostatic complexes of polyanionic DNA with cationic dendrimer have been considered as a potential non-viral vector for gene delivery and a model system for understanding DNA-histone interaction. Although it is believed that the gene transfection efficiency may be influenced by the structure of the complex, the supramolecular structure of DNA-dendirmer complexes and its dependence on va...

Peptide dendrimers have shown promise as an attractive platform for drug delivery. In this study, mPEGylated peptide dendrimer-doxorubicin (dendrimer-DOX) conjugate-based nanoparticle is prepared and characterized as an enzyme-responsive drug delivery vehicle. The drug DOX is conjugated to the periphery of dendrimer via an enzyme-responsive tetra-peptide linker Gly-Phe-Leu-Gly (GFLG). The dendr...

Biocompatible dendrimers with well-defined nanosizes are increasingly being used as carriers for drug delivery. 5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is an FDA-approved therapeutic agent recently found effective in treating retinal degeneration of animal models. Here, a water-soluble dendrimer conjugate of 5-ASA (AGFB-ASA) was designed to treat such retinal degeneration. The drug was conjugated to a ge...

Novel dendrimer N-heterocyclic carbene complexes with rhodium(I) located at the core were synthesized, and a positive dendrimer effect was found in the hydrosilylation of ketones catalyzed by them.