Unimolecular Amphiphilic Nanocontainers Based on Dendronized Linear Polymers

Summary: Linear polymeric core, polyethylenimine (PEI), is successfully dendronized divergently using different‐generation polyamidoamine (PAMAM)‐type dendrons. The formed dendronized polymers are further end‐capped using long alkyl acrylate, hexyl acrylate, to give macromolecular amphiphiles, which perform as unimolecular nanocontainers, capable of encapsulating water‐soluble dye in their interiors. The encapsulation properties are found to be generation‐dependent, in which, at higher generations of nanocontainers, the cavity becomes more localized, due to dense packing of the dendrons at their termini. Dendronization of a linear polymeric core followed by capping with hydrophobic arms. magnified image Dendronization of a linear polymeric core followed by capping with hydrophobic arms.