Dendrimers and dendronized materials as nanocarriers

ELIANA D. FARIAS; LYDIA M. BOUCHET; VERONICA BRUNETTI; MIRIAM C. STRUMIA

Nanostructures for Novel Therapy: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications

Elsevier

Año: 2017; p. 429 - 456

Molecular nanostructures with well-defined particleshape and size, such as dendrimers and dendritic structures, are of greatimportance in the development of novel therapeutic devices. Unique propertiesof dendritic macromolecules render them far more useful for biomedicalapplications than linear polymers. Thus, over the past three decades, sizeablecontributions to the polymer-based nanocarriers have come from dendrimers,which along with their endocavities, provide wide scope for structuralmodifications at the molecular level. New nanomaterials could be prepared usingthese structures as building blocks. Nanoparticle-coreddendrimers are also versatile carriers because of their colloidal stability, tunablemembrane properties and ability to encapsulate or integrate a broad range ofdrugs and molecules. These hybrid nanocomposites aim to combine the advantage of stimuli-responsivedendritic coating, in order to regulate drug-release behaviour under different conditions, with improvements in the biocompatibility and in vivo half-time circulation of the inorganic nanoparticles. This chapter describes general characteristicsof dendrimers and dendronized materials, synthetic methodologies and theirproperties. Successful applications of dendrimers and novel dendriticstructures as nanocarriers are discussed.