Functionalization of Cationic Polymers for Drug Delivery Applications

Abstract

Cationic polymers have attracted tremendous attention in recent years as non-viral vectors in gene delivery, owing to their high cellular uptake efficiency, good water solubility, excellent transfection efficiencies and facile synthesis. These polymers also show great potential for drug delivery applications, as their structure can be easily tailored to meet our growing understanding of the biological processes that govern biodistribution and biocompatibility of the carrier molecules. The incorporation of peptides, dyes or drug molecules into polymeric macromolecules has led to a synergistic combination of properties, improving the effectiveness of cationic polymers in biological applications even further. The numerous functionalization strategies, which have been developed in order to achieve this goal, are the centre of attention of this chapter. We focus on the most prominent cationic polymers and types of modification that have found applications in drug delivery, rather than trying to include all existing examples. We also describe the intrinsic functional groups of cationic polymers, which are available for further derivatization, as well as the conjugation chemistry that can be applied for the attachment of therapeutic molecules.

Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agents Using a Zr6‐Based Metal–Organic Framework/Polymer Mixture

“…Polyethyleneimine (PEI) is a polymer containing amine groups and aliphatic carbons that can be linear or branched. This polymer is used in detergents, adhesives, cosmetics, water treatment agents, and in CO 2 ‐capture applications . In particular, linear polyethyleneimine (Figure b) consists of a number of secondary amines and is insoluble in water, making it a great candidate for use as a basic heterogeneous buffer for the MOF‐catalyzed hydrolysis of nerve agents and simulants.…”

“…This polymer is used in detergents, adhesives, cosmetics, water treatment agents, and in CO 2 -capture applications. [14] In particular,l inear polyethyleneimine ( Figure 1b)c onsists of an umber of secondary amines and is insoluble in water,m aking it ag reat candidate for use as ab asic heterogeneous buffer for the MOF-catalyzed hydrolysis of nerve agents and simulants. In this study,w ed emonstrate the hydrolysis of the simulant (DMNP) and nerve agents (GD and VX) with aM OF catalyst/ heterogeneous bufferm ixture.…”

Polymers Tailored for Controlled (Bio)degradation Through End-Group and In-Chain Functionalization

“…Also when useing the oligoamines and disulfide-containing cystamine bisacrylamide in the polyaddition the reducible disulfide bonds are introduce into the backbone of linear PAMAM. This method increases the biocompatibility of the polymer [121][122][123]. PAMAMs with amine or acrylamide terminal groups can be obtained by polyaddition from difunctional macromers.…”

Multi-stimuli responsive block copolymers as a smart release platform for a polypyridyl ruthenium complex

“…For example, the release of doxorubicin from Pluronic micelles could be achieved by insonation with low frequency ultrasound as reported by Husseini et al 30 or Marin et al 31 Like other cationic polymers, PDMAEMA is reported to be slightly cytotoxic and changes regarding the molecular architecture (for example copolymers with hydrophobic or hydrophilic monomers, branched system, chain ends) as well as the overall molar mass can significantly influence the cytotoxicity. [32][33][34][35] Moreover, it is reported that the masking effects of PDMAEMA complexes play a crucial role in the cytotoxicity. 34 To the best of our knowledge, the use of PDMAEMA as a multi-stimuli responsive polymer (and BCP thereof ) has not been reported for the selective release of photodynamic therapy (PDT) photosensitizers.…”