Cucurbit[7]uril‐Mediated Organ‐Specific Delivery of Ultrasmall NIR‐II Luminescent Gold Nanocarriers for Therapy of Acute Kidney Injury

Abstract

The design of nanocarriers that selectively target the liver or kidney is a significant challenge in drug delivery due to the diverse physiological structures and inherent characteristics, as well as their distinct requirements for nanocarriers. Herein, a strategy to synthesize a series of second near‐infrared region (NIR‐II) emitting gold nanocarriers for fine‐tuning liver or kidney‐specific delivery via altering their surface chemistry using cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) and Cys‐Arg‐Gly‐Asp (CRGD) peptide is reported. Accordingly, it shows that ultrasmall nanocarriers can facilitate kidney‐targeted delivery in cisplatin‐induced acute kidney injury (AKI) mice, which significantly boosted the accumulation of dexamethasone (DXM) loaded onto the nanocarriers at the site of injured kidneys, thereby achieving improved therapeutic results. Thus, this organ‐specific delivery strategy holds tremendous promise for improving drug delivery efficiency and providing new perspectives and methods for personalized treatments.

Cucurbit[7]uril-Catalyzed Beckmann Rearrangement of Arylketoximes

“…Among various supramolecular compounds, cucurbit[ n , n = 5–8, 10, and 13–15]urils (Q[ n ]s) are a family of macrocyclic compounds composed of glycoluril units linked by methylene bridges . In the field of catalysis and supramolecular self-assembly materials, − numerous investigations have been conducted on Q[ n ]s. Q[ n ]s could act as efficient molecular containers that provide a confined reaction space with a hydrophobic environment for the guest reactants inside the cavity. On the other hand, Q[ n ]s have multiple electronegative carbonyl portals which exhibit good affinity toward cationic species.…”