title: Enzyme-responsive amphiphilic PEG-dendron hybrids and their assembly into smart micellar nanocarriers.
abstract: Enzyme-responsive micelles have great potential as drug delivery platforms due to the high selectivity of the activating enzymes. Here we report a highly modular design for the efficient and simple synthesis of amphiphilic block copolymers based on a linear hydrophilic polyethyleneglycol (PEG) and an enzyme-responsive hydrophobic dendron. These amphiphilic hybrids self-assemble in water into micellar nanocontainers that can disassemble and release encapsulated molecular cargo upon enzymatic activation. The utilization of monodisperse dendrons as the stimuli-responsive block enabled a detailed kinetic study of the molecular mechanism of the enzymatically triggered disassembly. The modularity of these PEG-dendron hybrids allows control over the disassembly rate of the formed micelles by simply tuning the PEG length. Such smart amphiphilic hybrids could potentially be applied for the fabrication of nanocarriers with adjustable release rates for delivery applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel-Aviv University , Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Assaf J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Harnoy
authors.forename: Ido
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.forename: Einat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tirosh
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ebenstein
authors.forename: Rona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shaharabani
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Roey J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Amir
mesh_terms: D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D050091:Dendrimers / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008823:Micelles; D015394:Molecular Structure; D049329:Nanostructures; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D050091:Dendrimers; D008823:Micelles; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D000581:Amidohydrolases