No abstract

In this study, a simple and green strategy was reported to prepare bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) by the combination of zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper oxide (CuO) using Sambucus nigra L. extract. The physicochemical properties of these NPs such as crystal structure, size, and morphology were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results suggested that these NPs contained polygonal ZnO NPs with hexagonal phase and spherical CuO NPs with monoclinic phase. The anticancer activity of the prepared bimetallic NPs was evaluated against lung and human melanoma cell lines based on MTT assay. As a result, the bimetallic ZnO/CuO NPs exhibited high toxicity on melanoma cancer cells while their toxicity on lung cancer cells was low.

The aim was the fabrication of glycodendrimer encapsulation agents with high proportions of cyclodextrins (CDs) to maintain the biocompatibility properties, as well as to notably improve their ability to load various suitably sized drugs. The novel glycodendrimers contained β-CD in both core and branches, namely β-cyclodextrin-based dendrimer (CD-dendrimer) prepared through a straightforward procedure using S N 2 displacement to attach multivalent β-CDs together. The desired CD-dendrimer was synthesized in three steps: (i) reaction of β-CD with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride and/or iodine to afford C-6 mono-and/or perβ-CD derivative; (ii) reaction of the β-CD precursors with ethylenediamine to give C-6 mono-and/or per-amino-β-CD derivative; and (iii) S N 2 displacement of β-CD electrophilic derivative with β-CD nucleophilic derivative in dimethylsulfoxide to provide the CD-dendrimer. Then, the encapsulation behaviour of the CD-dendrimer was examined using naproxen and naltrexone as the guest molecules. The structure of the designed CD-dendrimer allowed two types of possible sites for encapsulation of the guest: in cavities of the dendritic structure and in hydrophobic cavities of CDs.