Issue 1, 2013

Supramolecular amphiphilic multiarm hyperbranched copolymer: synthesis, self-assembly and drug delivery applications

Abstract

Novel supramolecular amphiphilic multiarm hyperbranched copolymers were successfully constructed through the molecular recognition of nucleobases. First, adenine-terminated H40-star-poly(ε-caprolactone)-adenine (H40-star-PCL-A) and uracil-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-U) were successfully prepared. Due to the molecular recognition between A and U moieties, supramolecular multiarm hyperbranched copolymers were obtained by simply mixing the hydrophobic H40-star-PCL-A core and hydrophilic PEG-U shell. They not only had similar properties to conventional covalent-linked multiarm hyperbranched copolymers, but also possessed a dynamic and tunable nature. These supramolecular hyperbranched copolymers were found to self-assemble into pH-responsive micelles with low critical micelle concentration (CMC) because of non-covalent connection and hyperbranched architecture. The size of the self-assembled micelles could be easily tailored by changing the ratio of hydrophobic H40-star-PCL-A core and hydrophilic PEG-U arm. Moreover, encapsulation and controlled drug release were demonstrated with the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX). These supramolecular hyperbranched copolymer systems represent an evolution over conventional stimuli-responsive covalent-bonded hyperbranched copolymer systems and display a significant reduction in the viability of HeLa cells upon triggered release of DOX from the supramolecular micelles.

Graphical abstract: Supramolecular amphiphilic multiarm hyperbranched copolymer: synthesis, self-assembly and drug delivery applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Jul 2012
Accepted
25 Aug 2012
First published
28 Aug 2012

Polym. Chem., 2013,4, 85-94

Supramolecular amphiphilic multiarm hyperbranched copolymer: synthesis, self-assembly and drug delivery applications

D. Wang, H. Chen, Y. Su, F. Qiu, L. Zhu, X. Huan, B. Zhu, D. Yan, F. Guo and X. Zhu, Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 85 DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20573D

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