One-step Synthesis of Anionic PEG-citrate G2 Dendrimer and Evaluation of its Cytotoxicity in Two Cell Lines

Objective: Dendrimers are three-dimensional nanostructures that have numerous applications in medicine, including drug delivery and imaging. Although anionic dendrimer polyethylene glycol–citrate has a high potential to increase solubility of water-insoluble drugs and drug delivery, its multi-step synthesis procedure is time consuming. In addition, toxic substances such as dichloromethane are used in its synthesis procedure. In this study, we have developed a simple one-step synthesis method using green chemistry.
Methods: We examined four different methods to improve the synthesis method of this dendrimer. Products were characterized by FTIR, LC-MS and DLS. Cytotoxicity was assessed by the XTT method.
Results: We synthesized a G2 polyethylene glycol–citrate dendrimer in one-step without purifying G1. This process was chosen as a beneficial method for synthesis of the G2 dendrimer. When compared with previous methods, this procedure had higher efficiency and greatly reduced response. This procedure used nontoxic materials. XTT assay results showed that this dendrimer created by green chemistry had no cytotoxicity in Hela and Vero cells up to a concentration of 800 µM.
Conclusion: One-step synthesis of anionic polyethylene glycol-citrate G2 dendrimer is a simple, beneficial production method. The dendrimer is biocompatible and can be used as a suitable carrier for drug delivery purposes.