A ureido-cytosine-functionalized supramolecular polymer can be manipulated to control nano-scale microstructures and its ability to form long-range order during self-assembly.

No abstract

Functional supramolecular micelles containing self‐complementary multiple hydrogen bonding adenine groups (A‐PPG) can spontaneously self‐assemble into stable nanosized micelles in aqueous solution. These micelles can be used to selectively deliver anticancer drugs to cancer cells and effectively promote tumor cell death via apoptosis, without harming normal cells. The drug‐loaded micelles exhibit tunable drug‐loading capacity and rapid pH‐triggered drug release under acidic conditions, as well as a high drug‐entrapment stability in serum‐rich media due to the reversible hydrogen‐bonded adenine–adenine interactions within the micellar interior; these properties are critical to achieving effective chemotherapeutic drug delivery and controlled drug release. In vitro assays show that the drug‐loaded micelles exert significant cytotoxic effects on cancer cells, with minimal effects on normal cells under physiological conditions. Cytotoxicity assays using A‐PPG micelles loaded with different anticancer drugs confirm these effects. Importantly, cellular internalization and flow cytometric analyses demonstrate that the adenine moieties within A‐PPG micelles significantly increase selective endocytic uptake of the supramolecular micelles by cancer cells, which in turn induce apoptotic cell death and substantially enhance the response to chemotherapy. Thus, A‐PPG micelles can improve the safety and efficacy of cancer chemotherapy.

The development of stimuli-responsive supramolecular micelles with high drug-loading contents that specifically induce significant levels of apoptosis in cancer cells remains challenging. Herein, we report photosensitive uracil-functionalized supramolecular micelles that spontaneously form via self-assembly in aqueous solution, exhibit sensitive photo-responsive behavior, and effectively encapsulate anticancer drugs at high drug-loading contents. Cellular uptake analysis and double-staining flow cytometric assays confirmed the presence of photo-dimerized uracil groups within the irradiated micelles remarkably enhanced endocytic uptake of the micelles by cancer cells and subsequently led to higher levels of apoptotic cell death, and thus improved the therapeutic effect in vitro. Thus, photo-dimerized uracil-functionalized supramolecular micelles may potentially represent an intelligent nanovehicle to improve the safety, efficacy, and applicability of cancer chemotherapy, and could also enable the development of nucleobase-based supramolecular micelles for multifunctional biomaterials and novel biomedical applications.

A novel fullerene-based water-soluble conducting micelle has been successfully developed, providing a potential route towards development of aqueous-processed electronic devices.