What are dendrimers made of?
Dendrimers are nearly monodisperse macromolecules that contain symmetric branching units built around a small molecule or a linear polymer core [5-7]. ‘Dendrimer’ is only an architectural motif and not a compound.
Are dendrimers man made?
The first dendrimers were made by divergent synthesis approaches by Fritz Vögtle in 1978, R.G. Denkewalter at Allied Corporation in 1981, Donald Tomalia at Dow Chemical in 1983 and in 1985, and by George R. Newkome in 1985. In 1990 a convergent synthetic approach was introduced by Craig Hawker and Jean Fréchet.
Are dendrimers biodegradable?
Biodegradable dendrimers incorporated biodegradability with merits of dendrimers. Biodegradable dendrimers with various structures and properties have been developed. Biodegradable dendrimers have been employed to deliver drugs via physical encapsulation or chemical conjugation.
How are dendrimers used in drug delivery?
Dendrimers for drug delivery are employed using two approaches: (i) formulation and (ii) nanoconstruct. In the formulation approach, drugs are physically entrapped in a dendrimer using non-covalent interactions, whereas drugs are covalently coupled on dendrimers in the nanoconstruct approach.
What are some desirable features of dendrimers for drug delivery?
[23] Unlike traditional polymers, dendrimers have received considerable attention in biological applications due to their high water solubility,[24] biocompatibility,[25] polyvalency[12] and precise molecular weight. [26] These features make them an ideal carrier for drug delivery and targeting applications.
How dendrimers are formed?
Dendrimers are constructed by the successive addition of layers to the branching groups. The synthesis of dendrimers involves a core molecule with branching groups to which other branching molecules are added (see figure below) in layers. Each new layer is called a generation.
What are the different ways of drug loading in dendrimers?
The dendrimer architecture has three main sites for drug entrapment by using various mechanisms: (i) void spaces (by molecular entrapment); (ii) branching points (by hydrogen bonding); and (iii) outside surface groups by (charge–charge interactions) (Figure 1).
What are dendrimers nanotechnology?
Abstract. Dendrimers represent a class of novel polymers having unique molecular architectures characterized by their well-defined structure, with a high degree of molecular uniformity, low polydispersity and properties that make them attractive materials for the development of nanomedicines.