Dendritic polyglycerol cyclodextrin amphiphiles and their self-assembled architectures to transport hydrophobic guest molecules

Abstract

Here we report for the first time a microwave assisted synthesis of polyglycerol dendron functionalized cyclodextrins (CD) with hydrophobic tails. These amphiphilic CDs consist of seven polyglycerol dendrons and fourteen alkyl chains on the primary and secondary rims of the cyclodextrin core, respectively. They self-assemble to form nanostructures in aqueous solutions and efficiently encapsulate hydrophobic aromatic guests. The size and shape of the self-assemblies and also their ability to encapsulate guest molecules depend on the generation of conjugated polyglycerol dendrons.