Colorimetric Determination of Polyamidoamine Dendrimers and their Derivates using a Simple and Rapid Ninhydrin Assay

Abstract

A simple, accurate and rapid colorimetric method using ninhydrin reagent was developed for the determination of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers (G4, G5, and G6) and their derivates in aqueous medium. This method was based on the interaction of the primary amino group of PAMAM dendrimers with ninhydrin reagent to form a blue‐colored product with λ_max at 570 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 25–200 µg/ml of all the three investigated PAMAM dendrimers. The effects of experimental parameters such as reagent concentration and reaction time were studied to optimize the colorimetric method. Accuracy and precision of the colorimetric method were assessed by statistical analysis. Acetylated G5 PAMAM dendrimers with various acetylated rates were simultaneously measured by the described ninhydrin assay and NMR studies and the data obtained by the two methods approximately accorded with each other. Results showed that the suggested procedures were suitable for the determination of PAMAM dendrimers and their derivates in aqueous solutions with satisfactory accuracy and precision.

Keywords:

• Spectrophotometry
• PAMAM
• dendrimer
• ninhydrin assay

Financial supports from the One Hundred Talent Project and Nanomedicine Research Project (kjcx2‐sw‐h12‐01) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Talent Fund (2004Z023), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30470871), and the Innovation Foundation of Graduate Student in University of Science and Technology of China (KD2004035) were highly appreciated.