Dendritech Inc.

University of Michigan

Other

The Dow Chemical Company

Rui Yin

Donald A Tomalia

David M Hedstrand

Douglas R Swanson

James R Baker, Jr

Roberta C Cheng

Herbert M Brothers, Ii

Jolanta F Kukowska-Latallo

William Jack Kruper, Jr

Ian A Tomlinson

Michael J Fazio

Yong Hsu

Larry R Wilson

Anna U Bielinska

Bartley Dean Maxon

Ralph Spindler

June W Klimash

Jennifer A Johnson

Dujie Qin

Scott L Klakamp

Donald A Kaplan, Deceased

Jamie Dunham

Lars T Piehler

A method of forming a branched polymer includes forming a plurality of growing linear polymer chains by polymerizing a monomer which is protected against branching and which forms a reactive end group which is in a first condition which is one of electrophilic or nucleophilic, exposing the growing linear polymer chains to a chain transfer agent to cause the reactive end group of at least a first growing linear polymer chain to reverse its electrophilic or nucleophilic character, whereby a non-reversed reactive end group on a second growing linear polymer chain reacts with the reversed reactive end group on the first growing linear polymer chain to create a branched polymer and reverses the electrophilic or nucleophilic character of the reversed reactive end group back to its first condition, whereby it may continue adding monomer in a linear fashion; and quenching the polymerization by adding a compound having multiple reactive sites capable of reacting with the reactive end groups of the polymer chains when they are in the first condition. The method allows the preparation of ultra-high molecular weight dendritic polymers in which the branching junctures are assembled in situ (i.e., are self-branching) in a convergent manner during polymerization of the monomers.

Convergent self-branching polymerization

Dendritic polymers containing disulfide functional groups which are essentially inert under non-reducing conditions, but which form sulfhydryl groups upon being subjected to a reducing agent are prepared by synthesizing dendritic polymers having a core with a disulfide linkage or by reacting a dendritic polymer with a molecule containing a disulfide linkage and reactive terminal groups. In one aspect of the invention, dendritic polymers having a single disulfide functional group at the core are provided. The single disulfide group at the core can be reduced to form two sulfhydryl groups to which other molecules, such as proteins, oligonucleotides, peptides, hormones, other dendritic polymers, non-dendritic polymers, etc., can be bound. Applications for the disulfide functionalized dendritic polymers include formation of differentiated dendrimers, formation of binding reagents for diagnostics, drug delivery, gene therapy and magnetic resins imaging, and in the preparation of self-assembled dendrimer monolayers on a quartz crystal resonators to provide dendrimer-modified electrodes which are useful for detecting various ions or molecules. In another aspect of the invention, dendritic polymers having sulfhydryl terminals are provided. The sulfhydryl terminated dendritic polymers can be used to prepare stable, curable resins composition which can undergo cross linking when subjected to a reducing agent.

Disulfide-containing dendritic polymers

A novel class of hyper comb-branched polymers conjugated with carried materials are disclosed.

Hyper comb-branched polymer conjugates

This invention discloses non-crosslinked, poly-branched polymers having a comb-burst configuration and a process for preparing such polymers.

Non-crosslinked, polybranched polymers

Dendritic polymer conjugates which are composed of at least one dendrimer in association with at least one unit of a carried material, where the carrier material can be a biological response modifier, have been prepared. The conjugate can also have a target director present, and when it is present then the carried material may be a bioactive agent. Preferred dendritic polymers are dense star polymers, which have been complexed with biological response modifiers. These conjugates and complexes have particularly advantageous properties due to their unique characteristics.

Bioactive and/or targeted dendrimer conjugates

The specification discloses a process for producing poly-branched polymer having relatively high molecular weight by forming a first set of branches by polymerizing monomers which are either protected against or are non-reactive to branching and grafting during polymerization, grafting that first set of branches to a core having a plurality of reactive sites capable of reacting with the reactive end units of said branches, either deprotecting or activating a plurality of monomeric units on each of said branches to create branch reactive sites, forming a second set of branches in the same manner as the first set of branches were formed, grafting the second set of branches to the first set of branches by reacting the reactive end units of the second set of branches with each said branch reactive site on said first set of branches and repeating the foregoing steps reiteratively to form and attach subsequent sets of branches to prior branch sets until a desired number of iterations has been effected.

Process for producing hyper-comb-branched polymers

Growing community of inventors

Mount Pleasant, MI, United States of America

Rui Yin