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A series of novel cationic star polymers were synthesized by conjugating multiple oligoethylenimine (OEI) arms onto an α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) core as nonviral gene delivery vectors. The molecular structures of the α-CD-OEI star polymers, which contained linear or branched OEI arms with different chain lengths ranging from 1 to 14 ethylenimine units, were characterized by using size exclusion chromatography, ¹³C and ¹H NMR, and elemental analysis. The α-CD-OEI star polymers were studied in terms of their DNA binding capability, formation of nanoparticles with plasmid DNA (pDNA), cytotoxicity, and gene transfection in cultured cells. All the α-CD-OEI star polymers could inhibit the migration of pDNA on agarose gel through formation of complexes with pDNA, and the complexes formed nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 100 to 200nm at N/P ratios of 8 or higher. The star polymers displayed much lower in …