Control of Amphiphile Self-Assembling at the Molecular Level

The main focus of the book is the design, synthesis and characterization of amphiphile self-assemblies and the dynamic assessment of these assemblies as delivery systems for drugs and nucleic acids. As delivery systems, these supra-molecular assemblies have the ability to change the pharmacokinetics and volume of distribution of their cargo, to protect it from premature decomposition or inactivation, and to control the spatial-temporal location and duration of thetherapeutic effect associated with cargo delivery. Different chapters of the book present delivery systems made out of large variety of amphiphiles, including simple surfactants, gemini surfactants, pseudo-gemini surfactants, lipids, lipophilic polycations, dendrimers, natural and synthetic polymersand their conjugates. The book brings together contributions from researchers relying on both strategies, aimed to foster a more cohesive understanding on how structure, packing parameter, physicochemical and interfacial properties of individual amphiphiles affect their self-assembling, loading, dynamic stability and release properties, in vitro and in vivo. These contributing authors are from the U.S., Europe and Asia, all of whom are at the forefront of their fields of study, providing the reader an up-to-date,broad perspective on the latest concepts and technologies related with design, synthesis and characterization of amphiphile self-assemblies and their use as delivery systems for drugs and nucleic acids.