Enhanced chemotherapeutic toxicity of cyclodextrin templated size-tunable rhodamine 6G nanoGUMBOSElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8tb01115j

Nanodrugs have been widely investigated for combating the large number of side effects associated with conventional therapeutics. Several investigations of such nanomedicines have demonstrated the profound role of nanoparticle size in therapeutic efficacy. Herein, we report the role of cyclodextrin (CD)-templating on the size and therapeutic properties of rhodamine 6G (R6G) nanoGUMBOS, i.e. nanomaterials derived from a Group of Uniform Materials Based on Organic Salts (GUMBOS). In these studies, templating of nanoGUMBOS using 2-hydroxypropyl-alpha (2-HP-α), 2-hydroxypropyl beta (2-HP-β), and gamma (γ) cyclodextrin (CD) led to a significant reduction in size and enhanced uniformity as indicated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. In addition, CD-templated nanoGUMBOS remarkably displayed a three to four fold enhancement in toxicity towards cancer cells as compared to nanoGUMBOS without CD-templates, suggesting a significant improvement in therapeutic efficacy. Correlation between size and toxicity suggests that CD-templated nanoparticles of ∼70 to 80 nm produced optimal toxicity. Even more interesting, all investigated nanoGUMBOS displayed no toxicity toward normal cells under examined conditions. Moreover, these nanoGUMBOS display comparable chemotherapeutic toxicity to the parent dye, [R6G][Cl], while also eliminating toxicity towards normal cells, indicating their strong chemotherapeutic potential. The studies outlined here provide further insight into an approach that may be employed for rapid synthesis of size tunable nanodrugs for enhanced chemotherapeutic efficacy. Rhodamine 6G nanoGUMBOS were templated with cyclodextrin to develop size tunable nanodrugs with enhanced cellular uptake and selective chemotherapeutic toxicity.