A dendrimer described as a macromolecule characterized by its highly branched 3D structure which provides a high degree of surface functionality and versatility. Dendrimers also referred to as the “Polymers of the 21 century.” Dendrimers components, namely (1) an initiator core (2) Interior layers (generations) composed of repeating units, radically attached to the interior core. (3) Exterior (...

INTRODUCTION Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are a unique family of dendritic polymers with numerous pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. One major problem with these polymers is their cytotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to synthesize novel dendrimers with aldehyde terminal groups and compare their cytotoxicity with that of dendri¬mers containing amine-terminated groups. METH...

Peptide dendrimers with multiple histidines or N-terminal prolines efficiently catalyze ester hydrolysis or aldol reactions in aqueous medium. Part of the catalytic proficiency of these dendritic enzyme models stems from multivalency effects observed in G2, G3 and G4 dendrimers displaying multiple catalytic groups in their branches. To study multivalency in higher generation systems, G4, G5 and...

With the aid of Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the equilibrium behavior of amphiphilic dendrimers, isolated as well as in the vicinity of uncharged planar walls, whereby the coreand shell-monomers constituting the dendrimer interact differently among themselves and with the wall surface. Contrary to the dense-core-forming athermal dendrimers, amphiphilic dendrimers can exhibit the so-ca...

We have investigated poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer interactions with supported 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) lipid bilayers and KB and Rat2 cell membranes using atomic force microscopy (AFM), enzyme assays, flow cell cytometry, and fluorescence microscopy. Amine-terminated generation 7 (G7) PAMAM dendrimers (10-100 nM) were observed to form holes of 15-40 nm in diamete...

OBJECTIVE In this study the mechanism of interactions between polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and bovine insulin was examined. The insulin is a 51 amino acid peptide-hormone involved in the homeostasis of blood glucose levels. This molecule consists of two chains - A and B - linked by two disulphide bridges. As insulin contains four tyrosine residues it was possible to evaluate dendrimers eff...

Two new classes of dendrimers bearing 8 and 32 fluorene donor groups have been synthesized. The first and second generations of these porphyrin-PAMAM-fluorene dendrimers were characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, FTIR, UV-vis spectroscopy, elemental analyses and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The UV-vis spectra showed that the individual properties of donor and acceptor moieties were preserved, indic...

Dendrimers are well-defined, polymeric nanomaterials currently being investigated for biomedical applications such as medical imaging, gene therapy, and tissue targeted therapy. Initially, higher generation (size) dendrimers were of interest because of their drug carrying capacity. However, increased generation was associated with increased toxicity. The majority of studies exploring dendrimer ...

Encapsulation of guest molecules within the interior cavities of dendrimers is promising, but high generation dendrimers show limited encapsulation capacity due to their dense surface shell. Here, for the first time, we prove that high generation polyamidoamine dendrimers, such as generation 8 and generation 10, are able to encapsulate hydrophobic guests using NMR spectroscopy. Guest molecules ...

Biological molecules and intracellular structures operate at the nanoscale; therefore, development of nanomedicines shows great promise for the treatment of disease by using targeted drug delivery and gene therapies. PAMAM dendrimers, which are highly branched polymers with low polydispersity and high functionality, provide an ideal architecture for construction of effective drug carriers, gene...