Slab-gel and capillary electrophoretic characterization of polyamidoamine dendrimers

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and derivatives of these polymers were analyzed by polyacrylamide gel- (PAGE) and capillary (CE) electrophoretic methods. Slab-gel PAGE allowed characterization of several generations of PAMAM dendrimers with terminal amino or carboxylate groups. Generational separation was achieved in CE up to the fifth generation of ammonia-core PAMAM dendrimers. Furthermore, CE allowed the separation of different substitution levels of low-generation, PAMAM dendrimers in which terminal amino groups were modified with salicylaldehyde groups, or of low-generation, methyl ester PAMAM dendrimers in which some of he terminal methyl ester groups were hydrolyzed to carboxylate groups. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.