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Dendrimers are nano-materials with perfectly defined structure and size, and multivalency properties that confer substantial advantages for biomedical applications. Previous work has shown that phosphorus-based polyphosphorhydrazone (PPH) dendrimers capped with azabisphosphonate (ABP) end groups have immuno-modulatory and anti-inflammatory properties leading to efficient therapeutic control of inflammatory diseases in animal models. These properties are mainly prompted through activation of monocytes. Here, we disclose new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory activation of human monocytes by ABP-capped PPH dendrimers. Following an interdisciplinary approach, we have characterized the physicochemical and biological behavior of the lead ABP dendrimer with model and cell membranes, and compared this experimental set of data to predictive computational modelling studies. The behavior of the ABP dendrimer was compared to the one of an isosteric analog dendrimer capped with twelve azabiscarboxylate (ABC) end groups instead of twelve ABP end groups. The ABC dendrimer displayed no biological activity on human monocytes, therefore it was considered as a negative control. In detail, we show that the ABP dendrimer can bind both non-specifically and specifically to the membrane of human monocytes. The specific binding leads to the internalization of the ABP dendrimer by human monocytes. On the contrary, the ABC dendrimer only interacts non-specifically with human monocytes and is not internalized. These data indicate that the bioactive ABP dendrimer is recognized by specific receptor(s) at the surface of human monocytes.

The well-known reactive diuretic ethacrynic acid (EA, Edecrin), with low antiproliferative activities, was chemically modified and grafted onto phosphorus dendrimers and the corresponding simple branched phosphorus dendron-like derivatives affording novel nanodevices showing moderate to strong antiproliferative activities against liquid and solid tumor cell lines, respectively.

The scarcity of low temperature syntheses of anatase nanocrystals prompted us to explore the use of surface-reactive fourth generation phosphorus-dendrimers as molds to control the nucleation and growth of titanium-oxo-species during the sol-gel mineralization process. Unexpectedly, the dendritic medium provides at low temperature, discrete anatase nanocrystals (4.8 to 5.2 nm in size), in marked contrast to the routinely obtained amorphous titanium dioxide phase under standard conditions. Upon thermal treatment, heteroatom migration from the branches to the nanoparticle surface and the ring opening polymerization of the cyclophosphazene core provide stable, interpenetrating mesoporous polyphosphazene-anatase hybrid materials (-P[double bond, length as m-dash]N-)n-TiO2. The steric hindrance of the dendritic skeleton, the passivation of the anatase surface by heteroatoms and the ring opening of the core limit the crystal growth of anatase to 7.4 nm and prevent, up to 800 °C, the commonly observed anatase-to-rutile phase transformation. Performing this mineralization in the presence of similar surface-reactive but non-dendritic skeletons (referred to as branch-mimicking dendrimers) failed to generate crystalline anatase and to efficiently limit the crystal growth, bringing thus clear evidence of the virtues of phosphorus dendrimers in the design of novel nanostructured materials.

15-Membered tri-olefinic azamacrocycles as end-groups of phosphorus-containing dendrimers from generation 1 to 4 are used for obtaining Pt nanoparticles in mild conditions; remarkable and unprecedented branched supramolecular assemblies composed of dendrimers and coalesced Pt nanoparticles are obtained, which become larger for higher dendrimer generations, affording for the first time a very unique organization of organic dendritic structures interweaved with inorganic dendritic structures.