Dendronization: A practical strategy to improve the performance of molecular systems used in biomedical applications

Nanomedicine is an emerging area that largely influences the efficacy of various therapies through the rational design of new materials exhibiting more targeted behavior. The synthetic effort, the amount of used material, and the cost are critical parameters to bear in mind if the production of the designed material is intended to be scaled for their widespread use. Even though materials science offers diverse options for different types of therapies, it is a difficult task to meet all the parameters mentioned above. The dendronization appears as an insightful approach to incorporate all the known benefits of the dendritic architecture by the attachment of dendrons to therapeutic agents, but in a much more affordable manner in terms of synthetic effort, amount of material, and cost. As will be presented, the most common dendrons used for biomedical applications are polyamide, polyester, carbosilane, polyether, and glycol-type, which are bonded to biological active molecules (BAMs), or molecular nanoplatforms (MPs) by hydrolysable bonds. Also relevant is the fact that the incorporation of dendrons not larger than third generation (G3) is sufficient to improve essential properties of these molecular systems, such as aqueous solubility, stability, and cellular internalization, among others. The type of dendron and its location on the BAMs or MPs, similar to placing a Lego piece on a model, will be decisive for obtaining the desired properties.