Recent developments and applications of bioinspired dendritic polymers

Abstract

Nowadays, the bioinspired strategy has become a prevalent guide for the design and fabrication of various novel materials. Due to their unique steric structures and rich peripheral functional groups, dendritic polymers can be designed for various bioinspired functions. This review begins with a brief introduction on the preparation of dendritic polymers, followed by the discussion of their physicochemical and biological properties. Then, a detailed review will focus on their bioinspired applications such as artificial proteins, virus, enzymes, cellular structures and light harvesting antenna, including our own studies. This review highlights the structure-function relationship of dendritic polymers to their bioinspired applications. Finally, an outlook will be proposed about the developing trends and challenges in this field.

Amelogenin and enamel biomimetics

“…151–153 Wu et al . 152 shown that alendronate-conjugated PAMAM dendrimer (ALN-PAMAM-COOH) could induce in situ remineralization of tooth enamel, attributed to the combined effect of the HA-anchored property of the ALN moiety and the remineralization capability of the –COOH moiety.…”

Effective dentin restorative material based on phosphate-terminated dendrimer as artificial protein

“…Researchers have modified these peripheral groups with various functional structures. Meanwhile, dendrimers closely match the sizes and contours of many important proteins and bioassemblies, and have been reputed as 'artificial proteins' due to their dimensional length scale, narrow size distribution and other biomimetic properties in the biomedical field [26,27]. Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are the first dendrimer family synthesized in 1985, and they have been carefully characterized and widely studied for various biomedical applications [28].…”

Synthesis of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-grafted poly(aminoamide) dendrimers as polymeric nanostructures

“…Among mentioned structures, dendrimers as three-dimensional (3D), highly branched, and monodispersed nanostructures are obtained by iterative sequence of reaction steps [9,10]. Despite wide range application of dendrimers, they are reported as toxic materials due to their cationized peripheral groups [11].…”