Technology for improving properties of lipid nanoparticles using lipids in which cis-unsaturated bonds are substituted with a silicon atom

Abstract

This disclosure provides silyl lipid molecules in which one or more carbon-to-carbon double bonds in the lipophilic portion is substituted with a silicon atom. Guidance is provided by which the reader may make silyl lipid molecules from molecular building blocks, and then incorporate silyl lipid molecules into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). The silyl LNPs can be used as carriers of pharmaceutical agents. Flexible steric and substitution patterns of silyl groups in the LNPs give the user a way to fine-tune physicochemical properties, achieving improved stability and clinical efficacy. This technology is useful for immunization or genetic therapy, such as the preparation and administration of RNA vaccines for protection against COVID-19 and other infectious disease.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.