Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 15, Issue 13, 2015

The combined efforts of chemistry, nanotechnology, and spectroscopy led to the development of self-assembled fluorescent DNA nanostructures, an inexhaustible source of refined and bizarre tools and powerful techniques for research and diagnostic applications. This multidisciplinary area has tremendous prospects for science and technology.

The present article focuses on the amphiphilic cationic polymers as antibacterial agents. These polymers undergo self-assembly in aqueous conditions and impart biological activity by efficiently interacting with the bacterial cell wall, hence, used in preparing chemical disinfectants and biocides. Both cationic charge as well as hydrophobic segments facilitate interactions with the bacterial cell surface and initiate its disru Read More

This review reports the recent advances in chlorotoxin (CTX)-targeted nanoparticles (NPs) for imaging and therapy of glioma. CTX has been identified as a targeting ligand to specifically bind to glioma. Through different conjugation approaches, CTX can be conjugated onto iron oxide NPs, quantum dots, and rare-earth upconversion NPs for targeted magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging of glioma. Likewise, CTX-co Read More

The development of three-dimensional matrices capable of recapitulating the main features of native extracellular matrix and contribute for the establishment of a favorable microenvironment for cell behavior and fate is expected to circumvent some of the main limitations of cell-based therapies. In this context, self-assembly has emerged as a promising strategy to engineer cell-compatible hydrogels. A wide number of s Read More

Self-assembled peptides and specifically small peptide based nanostructures have been the focus of research in past decade due to their potential biological applications. In this study, we prepared a protected peptide, Boc-Pro-Phe-Gly-OMe, which self-assembled in aqueous solutions leading to the formation of nanostructures and ability to act as a drug carrier. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed nanostructur Read More

The concept of Nanomedicine emerged along with the new millennium, and it is expected to provide solutions to some of modern medicine’s unsolved problems. Nanomedicine offers new hopes in several critical areas such as cancer treatment, viral and bacterial infections, medical imaging, tissue regeneration, and theranostics. To explore all these applications, a wide variety of nanomaterials have been developed Read More

Herein, we have fabricated a novel platform consisting of gelatin B in ionic liquid [1-ethyl- 3-methylimidazolium chloride [C2mim][Cl] (ionic liquid, IL)] formed ionogels (Ig) by dissolution method and used it for glucose detection. The ionogels were deposited onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass plate using drop casting technique. Glucose oxidase (GOx) was selected as a model enzyme to investigate its interaction with Ig/IT Read More

Among the diversity of natural and synthetic compounds being studied and applied for human welfare, peptides able to develop nanostructures are currently under special attention of scientists. In this review, we focus on such properties of peptides and various kinds of intramolecular interactions allowing their ability to form different shapes of nanoassemblies. We have also discussed the applications of self-assembled Read More