title: Self-assembly of amphiphilic Janus dendrimers into uniform onion-like dendrimersomes with predictable size and number of bilayers.
abstract: A constitutional isomeric library synthesized by a modular approach has been used to discover six amphiphilic Janus dendrimer primary structures, which self-assemble into uniform onion-like vesicles with predictable dimensions and number of internal bilayers. These vesicles, denoted onion-like dendrimersomes, are assembled by simple injection of a solution of Janus dendrimer in a water-miscible solvent into water or buffer. These dendrimersomes provide mimics of double-bilayer and multibilayer biological membranes with dimensions and number of bilayers predicted by the Janus compound concentration in water. The simple injection method of preparation is accessible without any special equipment, generating uniform vesicles, and thus provides a promising tool for fundamental studies as well as technological applications in nanomedicine and other fields.
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323;
authors.forename: Shaodong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323;Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396;
authors.forename: Hao-Jan
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323;
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323;
authors.forename: Ralph-Olivier
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Moussodia
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323;
authors.forename: Annabelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertin
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716; and.
authors.forename: Yingchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716; and.
authors.forename: Darrin J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pochan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396;
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Heiney
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323; percec@sas.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Virgil
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Percec
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D050091:Dendrimers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers
chemical_list: D050091:Dendrimers; D008051:Lipid Bilayers
keywords: biomembrane mimics; multibilayer vesicles; synthetic membranes