Scheme 1. Scheme of the formation of dendroids based on generation 7 based PAMAM dendrimers. Left column: Dendrimicelles are made by mixing dendrimers with a pMAA64-pEO885 block copolymer at stoichiometric charge ratio. After micelle formation, glutaraldehyde is added to cross-link the dendrimers in the micellar core. Upon increasing the ionic strength to a NaCl concentration of 0.8 M, the block copolymer dissociates from the core, and dendroids are formed. The imide bonds are subsequently reduced by sodium borohydride, and the dendroids are isolated via dialysis. Right column: When using dendrimer-encapsulated gold nanoparticles (AuDENs) with a pMAA64-pEO885 block copolymer at stoichiometric charge ratio, dendroids are formed where the number of gold particles is equal to the aggregation number of the dendrimers in the micelles. Middle column: Dendroids with different loadings of AuDENs are readily obtained by mixing empty dendrimers and Au-DENs at the start of the procedure. Note: The charges on the periphery of the dendrimers (positive at pH 7) and inside micelles are omitted for clarity reasons.
