Binding properties of polyamidoamine dendrimers

ABSTRACT: Dendrimers are globular, hyperbranched polymers possessing a high concentration of surface functional groups and internal cavities. These unique features make them good host molecules for small ligands. To reveal relationships between dendrimer size and its encapsulating properties, the interactions of the fourth and the sixth generations of polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM G4 and PAMAM G6) with a fluorescent dye 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) were studied. Because ANS is a fluorescent molecule and its fluorescence is very sensitive to changes in its microenvironment, it was possible to use spectrofluorometric methods to evaluate the interactions with dendrimers. A double fluorometric titration method was used to estimate a binding constant and the number of binding centers. There were two types of dendrimer binding centers characterized by different affinity towards ANS. For PAMAM G4, the values of K b and n for low-affinity and high-affinity sites equaled to 2.6 Â 10 5 , 0.60 and 3.70 Â 10 6 , 0.34, respectively, whereas in the case of PAMAM G6, these values equaled to 1.2 Â 10 5 , 76.34 and 1.38 Â 10 6 , 22.73. It was observed that the size of the dendrimer had a strong impact on the number of ANS molecules that interacted with dendrimers and their location within the macromolecule

Ultrasonic Formation of Fe3O4‑Reduced Graphene Oxide−Salicylic Acid Nanoparticles with Switchable Antioxidant Function

We demonstrate a single-step ultrasonic in situ complexation of salicylic acid during the growth of Fe3O4-reduced graphene oxide nanoparticles (∼10 nm) to improve the antioxidant and antiproliferative effects of pristine drug molecules. These nanoparticles have a precisely defined electronic molecular structure with salicylic acid ligands specifically complexed to Fe(III)/Fe(II) sites, four orders of magnitude larger electric surface potential, and enzymatic activity modulated by ascorbic acid molecules. The diminishing efficiency of hydroxyl radicals by Fe3O4-rGO-SA nanoparticles is tenfold higher than that by pristine salicylic acid in the electro-Fenton process. The H+ production of these nanoparticles can be switched by the interaction with ascorbic acid ligands and cause the redox deactivation of iron or enhanced antioxidation, where rGO plays an important role in enhanced charge transfer catalysis. Fe3O4-rGO-SA nanoparticles are nontoxic to erythrocytes, i.e., human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, but surpassingly inhibit the growth of three cancer cell lines, HeLa, HepG2, and HT29, with respect to pristine salicylic acid molecules