Synthetic amino acid-and/or peptide-containing graft copolymers

Abstract

A water soluble cationic peptide-containing graft copolymer exhibiting a number average molecular weight of from about 30,000 to about 500,000 are provided comprising: (a) a polymeric backbone containing or capable of modification to include free primary or secondary amine functional groups for reaction with an amino acid or peptide graft and exhibiting a number average molecular weight from about 10,000 to about 250,000; and (b) an amino acid or peptide graft reacted with from at least about 5% to about 100% of the primary or secondary amine functional groups of the polymeric backbone, wherein said amino acid or peptide graft comprises at least one 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalaine (Dopa) amino acid or a precursor thereof capable of hydroxylation to the Dopa form. The peptide-containing graft copolymers of the present invention can vary in (a) molecular weight, cationicity, percent substitution of the amino acid or peptide unit grafted to the polymer backbone and (b) the chemical and physical structure of the peptide-containing graft copolymer itself, thereby enabling specific tailoring of the polymers of the present invention for particular end-use applications.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.