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Published on: February 17, 2023
pH/Reduction dual-responsive comet-shaped PEGylated CQD-DOX conjugate prodrug: Synthesis and self-assembly as tumor
Guoping Li1, Mingliang Pei1, Peng Liu1
1State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Abstract:
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) show promising potential for tumor imaging owing to their unique superior fluorescent properties. However, the small particle size limits their practical application. Here, pH/reduction dual-responsive comet-shaped PEGylated CQD-DOX conjugate prodrug, DOX-Hy-CQD-SS-PEG with DOX content of 28.5%, was designed with the hydrophobic acid-labile DOX conjugated CQDs as comet nucleus and the few hydrophilic bioreducible detachable PEG brushes as comet tails. The comet-shaped DOX-Hy-CQD-SS-PEG prodrug could self-assemble into unique micelles with mean diameter of 127 nm. The DOX-Hy-CQD-SS-PEG micelles possessed excellent pH/reduction dual-responsive drug release with low drug leakage of 9% in 150 h. Furthermore, the fluorescent CQDs was recovered after DOX release and de-PEGylation, demonstrating their potential application for real-time response of therapy.
