Fabrication of mPEGylated graphene oxide/poly(2-dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) nanohybrids and their primary application for small interfering RNA delivery

Graphene oxide (GO)-based nanohybrids were designed for small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery for their high water dispensability, good biocompatibility, easily tunable surface functionalization, and particular optical properties. In this study, novel nanohybrids based on GO were fabricated. Methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) was covalently conjugated to GO via amide bonds. Then, poly(2-dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA), which was synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) with 2-(dodecyl thiocarbonothioyl thio)-2-methyl propionic acid (DTM) as the RAFT agent, was attached onto GO via physical interaction between DTM and GO. Compared with Lipofectamine 2000, the novel mPEG-GO/PDMAEMA nanohybrids showed comparable gene transfection efficiency and a low cytotoxicity. Moreover, the mPEG-GO/PDMAEMA nanohybrids showed enhanced optical properties compared to the original GO because of the presence of mPEG and PDMAEMA. Our work encouraged further exploration of the novel nanovector for combined photothermal and siRNA delivery. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43303.National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [2012AA022501]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [81371667, 81471727]; Department of Education of China [20090001110052]SCI(E)EIARTICLEliangz@pku.edu.cn; dengliandong@aliyun.com1613