Strategy of directly employing paclitaxel to construct vesicles

A class of aza-arm modified β-cyclodextrins were found to be able to trap paclitaxel (PTX), an effective but strongly hydrophobic anticancer drug, to form novel "supramolecular amphiphiles", which can further self-assemble into vesicular structures in aqueous solution. The obtained vesicles were characterized in detail by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The mechanism of the vesicular formation was suggested on the basis of the experimental results of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal analysis. The effects to the vesicular formation by changing the host molecules and solvents were also studied. The vesicles will disappear upon the introduction of Cu(2+) into the vesicular system, during the procedure of which, PTX will be released meanwhile. We believe that our research will provide a new strategy of directly employing special drugs to construct microvehicles to carry other targeted molecules.