Branched polymers
AssigneeNektar Therapeutics
InventorsMichael D. Bentley, Xuan Zhao, Xiaoming Shen, William D. Battle, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to branched reactive water-soluble polymers comprising at least two polymer arms, such as poly(ethylene glycol), attached to a central aliphatic hydrocarbon core molecule through heteroatom linkages. The branched polymers bear at least one functional group for reacting with a biologically active agent to form a biologically active conjugate. The functional group of the branched polymer can be directly attached to the aliphatic hydrocarbon core or via an intervening linkage, such as a heteroatom, -alkylene-, —O-alkylene-O—, -alkylene-O-alkylene-, -aryl-O—, —O-aryl-, (—O-alkylene-)m, or (-alkylene-O—)m linkage, wherein m is 1-10.
Claims14
A branched reactive polymer having a structure:
- wherein:
- R is a linear aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of 3, 5, or 7 carbon atoms;
- each polymer arm, POLY, is —CH2CH2O(CH2CH2O)n—OH or —CH2CH2O(CH2CH2)n—OCH3, and is attached, via X′, to a different carbon atom of R to provide a branched reactive polymer in which the polymer arms are symmetrically positioned on the linear aliphatic hydrocarbon with respect to one another and the para-NO2—(C6H5)OC(O)O—(X)p group to thereby provide a symmetrical branched reactive polymer;
- X′ is a heteroatom linkage selected from the group consisting of —NH—, —O— and —S—, wherein X′ in each of (X′-POLY)q is the same;
- X is a linker of from one to ten atoms;
- p is 0 or 1;
- n is from about 5 to about 1,200;
- q is 3, 4, or 5;
- and further wherein the branched reactive polymer has a molecular weight of about 500 Da to about 100,000 Da
The branched polymer of claim 38, wherein each of the polymer arms extending from the linear aliphatic hydrocarbon is identical.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.