Trifaceted Mickey Mouse Amphiphiles for Programmable Self‐Assembly, DNA Complexation and Organ‐Selective Gene Delivery

Instilling segregated cationic and lipophilic domains with an angular disposition in a trehalose‐based trifaceted macrocyclic scaffold allows engineering patchy molecular nanoparticles leveraging directional interactions that emulate those controlling self‐assembling processes in viral capsids. The resulting trilobular amphiphilic derivatives, featuring a Mickey Mouse architecture, can electrostatically interact with plasmid DNA (pDNA) and further engage in hydrophobic contacts to promote condensation into transfectious nanocomplexes. Notably, the topology and internal structure of the cyclooligosaccharide/pDNA co‐assemblies can be molded by fine‐tuning the valency and characteristics of the cationic and lipophilic patches, which strongly impacts the transfection efficacy in vitro and in vivo. Outstanding organ selectivities can then be programmed with no need of incorporating a biorecognizable motif in the formulation. The results provide a versatile strategy for the construction of fully synthetic and perfectly monodisperse nonviral gene delivery systems uniquely suited for optimization schemes by making cyclooligosaccharide patchiness the focus. Mickey Mouse molecular nanoparticles with a trehalose‐based cyclooligosaccharide core and uneven distributions of cationic (C, red lobules) and lipophilic patches (L, blue lobules) co‐assemble with plasmid DNA (pDNA, orange chains) to afford transfectious nanacomplexes with programmable topologies and internal structures, ranging from multilamellar spheroids and rods to core‐shell arrangements, translating into amazing cell efficiencies in vitro and organ selectivities in vivo with no need of targeting labels.