Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Scheme 4.6
Synthesis of thiolated chitosans.
4.4 Dendrimer-Based Gene Vectors
Dendrimers are highly branched, monodisperse macromolecules with sym-
metrical nanometer-sized architecture, which are prepared by multistep
synthetic procedures. They consist of a central core, branching units, and
terminal functional groups (Figure 4.7). This type of architecture induces the
formation of nanocavities, the environment of which determines their
solubilizing or encapsulating properties, while the external groups primarily
