Dendritic nanoglobules with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane core and their biomedical applications

Dendrimers have been recognized as promising materials for biomedical applications due to their unique properties, such as well-defined unimolecular structures, precise molecular weights and high degrees of branching and surface functionality. The dendrimers with a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane core - nanoglobules - have many advantageous features over traditional dendrimers, including more functional groups at the same generation of dendrimers, well-defined 3D structures and relatively compact morphologies. Various nanoglobules of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-core dendrimers have been synthesized and investigated for biomedical applications. Nanoglobules have been used as carriers for developing drug-delivery systems, gene-delivery systems and imaging contrast agents with precisely defined structures and sizes. This article summarizes the recent developments in nanoglobules for biomedical applications.