This paper presents two water-soluble fullerene nanomaterials (HexakisaminoC60 and monoglucosamineC60, which is called here JK39) that were developed and synthesized as non-viral siRNA transfection nanosystems. The developed two-step Bingel-Hirsch reaction enables the chemical modification of the fullerene scaffold with the desired bioactive fragments such as D-glucosamine while keeping the crucial positive charged ethylenediamine based malonate. The ESI-MS and 13C-NMR analyses of JK39 confirmed its high Th symmetry, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the presence of nitrogen and oxygen-containing C-O or C-N bonds. The efficiency of both fullerenes as siRNA vehicles was tested in vitro using the prostate cancer cell line DU145 expressing the GFP protein. The HexakisaminoC60 fullerene was an efficient siRNA transfection agent, and decreased the GFP fluorescence signal significantly in the DU145 cells. Surprisingly, the glycofullerene JK39 was inactive in the transfection experiments, probably due to its high zeta potential and the formation of an extremely stable complex with siRNA.

Department of Physics Faculty of Science University of Hradec Králové 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Faculty of Biochemistry Biophysics and Biotechnology Jagiellonian University 30 387 Kraków Poland

Institute of Chemistry University of Silesia in Katowice 40 006 Katowice Poland

Institute of Materials Engineering University of Silesia in Katowice 41 500 Chorzów Poland

Institute of Physics and Silesian Center for Education and Interdisciplinary Research University of Silesia in Katowice 41 500 Chorzów Poland

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Sci Rep. 2022 Oct 19;12(1):17454. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-21627-0. PubMed

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