Spatial Distributions of Guest Molecule and Hydration Level in Dendrimer-Based Guest–Host Complex

Journal Article · Tue Aug 09 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · ACS Macro Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00526· OSTI ID:1427604

Liu, Chih-Ying ^[1]; Chen, Hsin-Lung ^[1]; Do, Changwoo ^[2]; Hong, Kunlun ^[3]

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1. National Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu (Taiwan). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Matters
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Biology and Soft Matter Division
3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)

Using the electrostatic complex of G4 poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer with an amphiphilic surfactant as a model system, contrast variation small angle neutron scattering (SANS) is implemented to resolve the key structural characteristics of dendrimer-based guest–host system. Quantifications of the radial distributions of the scattering length density and the hydration level within the complex molecule reveal that the surfactant is embedded in the peripheral region of dendrimer and the steric crowding in this region increases the backfolding of the dendritic segments, thereby reducing the hydration level throughout the complex molecule. Here, the insights into the spatial location of the guest molecules as well as the perturbations of dendrimer conformation and hydration level deduced here are crucial for the delicate design of dendrimer-based guest–host system for biomedical applications.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); National Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu (Taiwan)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) (Taiwan)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1427604
• Journal Information: ACS Macro Letters, Journal Name: ACS Macro Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 5; ISSN 2161-1653
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY