Rational design of dendritic thermo-responsive nanogels that undergo phase transition on endolysosomal conditions

GUIDO NOE RIMONDINO; ENRICO MICELLI; MARIA MOLINA; H WEDEPOHL; S. THIERBACH; E. RÜHL; MIRIAM C. STRUMIA; MARISA MARTINELLI; M. CALDERON

Journal Material Chemistry B

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

Año: 2017 vol. 5 p. 866 - 866

2050-750X

n the last few decades, the synthesis of nanodevices has become a very active research field with manyapplications in biochemistry, biotechnology, and biomedicine. However, there is still a great need for smartnanomaterials that can sense and respond to environmental changes. Temperature- and pH-responsivenanogels (NGs), which are prepared in a one-pot synthesis from N-isopropylacrylamide (NiPAm) and aNewkome-type dendron (ABC) bearing carboxylic acid groups, are being investigated as multi-responsivedrug carriers. As a result, NGs have been developed that are able to undergo a reversible volume phasetransition triggered by acidic conditions, like the ones found in endolysosomal compartments of cancercells. The NGs have been thoroughly characterized using dynamic light scattering and spectroscopies, suchas infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, UV-visible, and stimulated Raman. Strong hydrogen bonds havebeen detected when the ABC moieties are deprotonated, which has led to changes in t