Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 5
Functional Hyperbranched
Polymers for Drug and Gene
Delivery
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YUE JIN AND XINYUAN ZHU*
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Chemistry and Chemical
Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, 800
Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China
*
E-mail: xyzhu@sjtu.edu.cn
5.1 Introduction
Hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) with an intrinsic globular structure are one
important subclass of dendritic polymers.
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Compared to the conventional
linear, branched, and crosslinked polymers, HBPs show unique features which
mainly derive from their dendritic architecture, adequate spatial cavities, and
numerous terminal groups. Correspondingly, HBPs exhibit the advantages of
non/low-entanglement, low melt viscosity, good solubility, and a large number
of end-groups that are prone to be chemically modified.
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Besides, the one-pot
synthetic procedure of HBPs is facile by comparison with that of dendrimers,
which is conducive to their large-scale scientific and industrial applications.
Given these merits, the development of HBPs has drawn considerable
attention during the past decades, especially in the applications of drug and
gene delivery.
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Nowadays, the great demands of in vivo programmable and
controlled delivery and release of drug and gene call for smart and functional
carriers or vectors. Taking the outstanding architectural advantages of HBPs
RSC Polymer Chemistry Series No. 3
