0000000000365305
AUTHOR
Tobias Steinbach
Universal Concept for the Implementation of a Single Cleavable Unit at Tunable Position in Functional Poly(ethylene glycol)s
Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with acid-sensitive moieties gained attention particularly for various biomedical applications, such as the covalent attachment of PEG (PEGylation) to protein therapeutics, the synthesis of stealth liposomes, and polymeric carriers for low-molecular-weight drugs. Cleavable PEGs are favored over their inert analogues because of superior pharmacodynamic and/or pharmacokinetic properties of their formulations. However, synthetic routes to acetal-containing PEGs published up to date either require enormous efforts or result in ill-defined materials with a lack of control over the molecular weight. Herein, we describe a novel methodology to implement a single acetalde…
Poly(phosphonate)-mediated Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reactions
A novel, general protocol for a polymer-mediated Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) reaction is reported. The polyvalent polymeric reagent was prepared via acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization. Homo- and copolymers of reactive poly(phosphonate)s with molecular weights up to 40 000 g·mol−1 and molecular weight dispersities Đ < 2 were successfully synthesized. Subsequent application of these polymers in the HWE reaction to prepare a library of aromatic α,β-unsaturated ketones (chalcons) has proven to be an efficient synthetic pathway to minimize purification efforts, as the polymeric side-product can be removed by simple precipitation. In this paper we also demonstrate for the first tim…
Poly(phosphonate)s via Olefin Metathesis: Adjusting Hydrophobicity and Morphology
Olefin metathesis step-growth (acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET)) and chain-growth (ring-opening metathesis) polymerization was used to prepare linear poly(phosphonate)s with variable hydrophilicity. The first phosphonate monomer, i.e., di(undec-10-en-1-yl) methylphosphonate, for ADMET polymerization was developed, and potentially degradable and biocompatible, unsaturated poly(phosphonate)s were prepared with molecular weights up to 23 000 g mol–1 with molecular weight dispersities Đ < 2. These polymers were studied with respect to their interaction with a calcium phosphate bone substitute material from an aqueous nanoparticle dispersion that was prepared by a solvent evaporation miniemulsio…
Microstructure analysis of biocompatible phosphoester copolymers
Copolymers with varying compositions of 2-ethoxy-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (EEP) and 2-ethoxy-4-methyl-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (EMEP) have been synthesized via 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene-catalyzed anionic ring-opening polymerization. The molecular weights and comonomer ratios were well controlled and polymers with reasonable molecular weight distributions (<1.5) were obtained in all cases. The copolymers were investigated by 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopies to determine the underlying microstructure via detailed dyad analysis. The copolymers were found to be nontoxic to HeLa cells. Furthermore, the obtained copolymers of EEP and EMEP show thermoresponsive properties, i.e., exh…
Ligand-Binding Cooperativity Effects in Polymer-Protein Conjugation.
We present an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic characterization of structural and dynamic effects that stem from post-translational modifications of bovine serum albumin (BSA), an established model system for polymer-protein conjugation. Beyond the typical drug delivery and biocompatibility aspect of such systems, we illustrate the causes that alter internal dynamics and therefore functionality in terms of ligand-binding to the BSA protein core. Uptake of the paramagnetic fatty acid derivative 16-doxyl stearic acid by several BSA-based squaric acid macroinitiators and polymer-protein conjugates was studied by EPR spectroscopy, aided by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and z…