Synthesis, Characterization, and Remarkable Biological Properties of Cyclodextrins Bearing Guanidinoalkylamino and Aminoalkylamino Groups on Their Primary Side

The introduction of aminoalkylamino and guanidinoalkylamino substituents on the primary side of β- and γ-cyclodextrin (CDs) resulted in a series of novel compounds that were extensively characterized by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Bromination of the primary side of β- and γ-CD, and reaction with neat alkylene diamines at a pressure of 7 atm afforded aminoalkylamino derivatives that were then guanylated at the primary amino group to give the corresponding guanidinoalkylamino-CDs. These compounds are water soluble and display pKa values that allow them to be mostly protonated at neutral pH; for example, pK∼6.4 and pK∼9.5 for the aminoethylamino-β-CD and pK∼7.8 and pK∼11.0 for the guanidinoethylamino-β-CD. The title CDs are rigid, cyclic α-D-glucopyranose oligomers (heptamers or octamers) with branches that resemble lysine and arginine side chains that enable multiple interactions with suitable substrates. Thus, they bear similarities to known cell-penetrating peptides. Indeed, the compounds were found to cross the membranes of HeLa cells and penetrate inside the cytoplasm quickly, the guadinylated ones within 15 min, as shown by fluorescence microscopy using fluorescein-labeled derivatives. The toxicity of the compounds, measured by performing MTT tests, ranged from 50 to 300 μM. Furthermore, some of the aminated CDs could facilitate the transfection of DNA expressing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in HEK 293T cells, with effectiveness comparable to the commercial agent Lipofectamine 2000. Circular dichroism, atomic force microscopy and electrophoresis experiments confirmed the strong interaction of the compounds with DNA. Because of their carbohydrate, non-peptide nature the title compounds are not anticipated to be enzymatically labile or immunogenic, and thus they fulfill many of the criteria for non-hazardous transport vectors in biological and pharmaceutical applications.