Novel Water‐Soluble Carbosilane Dendrimers: Synthesis and Biocompatibility

A synthetic strategy has been developed for the preparation of new peripheral amine- or ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendrimers of type nG-[Si(OCH2CH2NMe2)y]x or nG-[Si(OCH2CH2NMe3+I–)y]x, respectively. It consists of the alcoholysis of well-known chlorosilane-terminated dendrimers with N,N-dimethylethanolamine and the subsequent quaternization with MeI. All these systems are susceptible to hydrolysis, although the decomposition depends on concentration and dendrimer generation. Evaluation of dendrimer toxicities by phase-contrast light microscopy and MTT assay were carried out, and evidence of dendrimer/oligonucleotide complex formation was carried out by gel electrophoresis. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)