High molecular weight zwitterion-containing polymers

A conjugate comprising:

• at least one polymer comprising:
• at least two polymer arms each comprising a plurality of monomers each independently selected from the group consisting of acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, styrene, vinyl-pyridine, vinyl-pyrrolidone and vinyl-ester, wherein each monomer comprises a hydrophilic group,
• an initiator fragment linked to a proximal end of the polymer arm, wherein the intiator moiety is suitable for radical polymerization, and
• an end group linked to a distal end of the polymer arm;
• and
• at least one functional agent comprising a bioactive agent or a diagnostic agent, linked to the initiator fragment or the end group.

A polymer of the formula:

• wherein
• R1 is selected from the group consisting of H, L3-A1, LG1 and L3-LG1;
• each M1 and M2 is independently selected from the group consisting of acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, styrene, vinyl-pyridine, vinyl-pyrrolidone and vinyl-ester;
• each of G1 and G2 is each independently a hydrophilic group;
• each I and I′ is independently an initiator fragment, such that the combination of I-I′ is an initiator, I1, for the polymerization of the polymer of Formula I via radical polymerization;
• alternatively, each I′ is independently selected from the group consisting of H, halogen and C1-6 alkyl;
• each of L1, L2 and L3 is independently a bond or a linker;
• each A1 is a functional agent;
• each LG1 is a linking group;
• subscripts x and y1 are each independently an integer of from 1 to 1000;
• each subscript z is independently an integer of from 0 to 10;
• and
• subscript s is an integer of from 2 to 100.

A polymer comprising

• a polymer arm independently comprising a plurality of monomers each independently selected from the group consisting of acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, styrene, vinyl-pyridine, vinyl-pyrrolidone and vinyl-ester, wherein each monomer comprises a hydrophilic group;
• an initiator fragment linked to a proximal end of the polymer arm, wherein the intiator moiety is suitable for radical polymerization;
• and
• an end group linked to a distal end of the polymer arm,
• wherein at least one of the initiator fragment and the end group comprises a functional agent or a linking group,
• and wherein the polymer has a peak average molecular weight of from about 50 kD to about 1,500 kD, as measured by light scattering.