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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Formulating and Characterizing Lipid Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery using a Microfluidic Mixing Platform
Published on: February 25, 2021
Bis-Thioether-Containing Lipid Chains in Cationic Amphiphiles: Physicochemical Properties and Applications in Gene
Amal Bouraoui1, Rosy Ghanem2, Mathieu Berchel1
1Univ Brest, CNRS, CEMCA, UMR CNRS 6521, 6 Avenue Victor Le Gorgeu, F-29238, Brest, France.
Abstract:
Cationic amphiphiles featuring two thioether functions in each lipid chain of bicatenar cationic amphiphiles are reported here for the first time. The physicochemical properties and transfection abilities of these new amphiphiles were compared with those of already reported analogues featuring either (i) saturated, (ii) unsaturated or (iii) mono-thioether containing lipid chains. The homogeneity of the series of new compounds allowed to clearly underscore the effect of bis-thioether containing lipid chains. This study shows that besides previous strategies based on unsaturation or ramification, the incorporation of two thioether functions per lipid chain constitutes an original complementary alternative to tune the supramolecular properties of amphiphilic compounds. The potential of this strategy was evaluated in the context of gene delivery and report that two cationic amphiphiles (i. e. 4 a and 4 b) can be proposed as new efficient transfection reagents.
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