Abstract
Aromatic
Ï€-electron conjugated polymers (CPs) are innovative fluorescent materials that
have a high potential as therapeutic carriers. Because of excellent
photophysical properties, such as high brightness and sensing ability, and
excellent biophysical properties, such as biocompatibility, nontoxicity, high cellular
interaction, and ease of entry, CPs have been used for live cell and tissue
imaging, biochemical sensing, and gene and drug delivery. Biodegradable CPs can be formed by introducing
flexible degradable functional groups along the backbone of the CPs.
Conventional method of synthesizing CPs with diverse
functional group is tedious and problematic. In addition to intrinsic
synthetic challenge of optimizing polymerization conditions for each monomer,
the resulting CP with different functional group will have different molecular
weight and polydispersity, which will influence their physical and biophysical
behaviors.
FIU inventors have synthesized modulated guanidine
substituted polymer and modulated guanidine substituted nanoparticle with
guanidine moieties. These polymers and nanoparticles can be prepared by direct
amination of a N-Boc protected guanidine substituted conjugated polymer or
nanoparticle, where an amine or alcohol is combined in solution or suspension
with the protected conjugated polymer or nanoparticle and the resulting mixture
is heated. The synthetic method can be
applied to a wide range of nanoparticles, synthetic and natural polymers, as
well as conjugated and non-conjugated polymers having a flexible backbone.
Benefit
Allows for the synthesize of structurally diverse polymers without tedious polymerization stepsProvides a catalyst free post polymerization technique to incorporate a variety of hydrophilic and hydrophobic functional groupProduces high yields of modulated CPs with enhanced cellular entry, modulated intracellular localization, and better siRNA delivery
Market Application
Drug and gene deliveryWater treatmentSensors
Publications
Ahmed MS , Dutta RK , Manandhar P , et al. A
guanylurea-functionalized conjugated polymer enables RNA interference in ex
vivo human airway epithelium. Chem Commun (Camb). 2019;55(54):7804-7807.
doi:10.1039/c9cc02856k
Brochure
