Sousa-Herves Ana, Novoa-Carballal Ramon, Riguera Ricardo, Fernandez-Megia Eduardo
Department of Organic Chemistry and Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CIQUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Jenaro de la Fuente s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
AAPS J. 2014 Sep;16(5):948-61. doi: 10.1208/s12248-014-9642-3. Epub 2014 Jul 9.
Dendrimers are synthetic macromolecules composed of repetitive layers of branching units that emerge from a central core. They are characterized by a tunable size and precise number of peripheral groups which determine their physicochemical properties and function. Their high multivalency, functional surface, and globular architecture with diameters in the nanometer scale makes them ideal candidates for a wide range of applications. Gallic acid-triethylene glycol (GATG) dendrimers have attracted our attention as a promising platform in the biomedical field because of their high tunability and versatility. The presence of terminal azides in GATG dendrimers and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-dendritic block copolymers allows their efficient functionalization with a variety of ligands of biomedical relevance including anionic and cationic groups, carbohydrates, peptides, or imaging agents. The resulting functionalized dendrimers have found application in drug and gene delivery, as antiviral agents and for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in diagnosis and as tools to study multivalent carbohydrate recognition and dendrimer dynamics. Herein, we present an account on the preparation and recent applications of GATG dendrimers in these fields.
树枝状大分子是由从中心核伸出的重复分支单元层组成的合成大分子。它们的特点是尺寸可调，外围基团数量精确，这些决定了它们的物理化学性质和功能。它们的高多价性、功能性表面以及纳米级的球状结构使其成为广泛应用的理想候选者。没食子酸 - 三甘醇（GATG）树枝状大分子因其高度可调性和多功能性，作为生物医学领域一个有前景的平台而引起了我们的关注。GATG树枝状大分子和聚乙二醇（PEG） - 树枝状嵌段共聚物中末端叠氮化物的存在，使得它们能够与多种具有生物医学相关性的配体进行有效功能化，这些配体包括阴离子和阳离子基团、碳水化合物、肽或成像剂。所得的功能化树枝状大分子已应用于药物和基因递送、作为抗病毒剂以及用于治疗神经退行性疾病、诊断以及作为研究多价碳水化合物识别和树枝状大分子动力学的工具。在此，我们介绍GATG树枝状大分子在这些领域的制备及近期应用情况。
