Self-assembly of cholesterol-hydrotropic dendrimer conjugates into micelle-like structure: Preparation and hydrotropic solubilization of paclitaxel

A hydrotropic dendrimer, made of polyglycerol dendrimer of generation 4 (PGD-G4), was conjugated with cholesterol. The self-assembled structure of the conjugate in water was characterized by 1H-NMR, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). One cholesterol molecule was conjugated to PGD-G4, which was confirmed by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy. The DLS analysis showed that the conjugate formed self-assembly with a diameter of 49.9–59.9 nm. The AFM image suggests that the self-assembly is a micelle-like sphere. The level of paclitaxel solubilization by the conjugate in water was similar to that of PGD-G4 itself, and this suggests that the PGD-G4 is located on the outer part of the self-assembly to function as a hydrotrope.