The self-assembly of highly branched Janus dendrimers (JD) into Janus dendrimersomes (JDS) comprised of a hydrophilic/hydrophobic bilayer has enhanced the capabilities for small molecule drug/dye encapsulation and transport. Traditional JD hydrophilic segments, like polyamidoamine (PAMAM), at higher concentrations and degrees of generation have proved to be cytotoxic. To improve biocompatibility, JDs have been decorated with saccharide groups which upon self-assembly form non-toxic Janus glyco-dendrimersomes (JGDS). Due to distinct peptide/polymer hydrogen bonding interactions, saccharide stereochemistry plays an important role in carbohydrate functions such as biological recognition, protein binding, and peptide aggregation pathways. Thus, the stereospecific arrangements of the pendant saccharide groups may be used for cell targeting, lectin-specific binding in the body, and to mimic the biological glyco-clustering effect. This work explores the use of synthetic glycopolymers as the hydrophilic layer of JGDS to amplify the structures’ hydrogen bonding capabilities, potentially enhancing the self-assembly and structural stability. Linear glycopolymers were synthesized through reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) at different target molecular weights (5.8 and 13.7 kDa) and with different pendant saccharide groups (glucose and galactose), and subsequently characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The glycopolymers were then photo-coupled to polylactic acid (PLA) dendrons. Following nanoprecipitation, the resulting nanostructures were characterized through dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Self-assembly of glucose and galactose containing Janus-type linear dendritic block copolymers for utilization in biomedical applications

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