Branched Polymers
AssigneeNektar Therapeutics
InventorsMichael David Bentley, Xuan Zhao, Xiaoming Shen, William Dudley 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 ether 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.
Claims10
A branched reactive polymer having the structure:
- Y—(X)p-R(—X-POLY)q
- wherein:
- Y is a functional group reactive with an electrophilic or nucleophilic group;
- R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of at least three carbon atoms;
- X′ is —O—;
- X is a linker of 1 to 10 atoms in length;
- P is 0 or 1;
- q is 2 to about 10;
- and
- each POLY is a water soluble and non-peptidic polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer that terminates with a hydroxyl or methoxy group,
- and further wherein the branched polymer has a molecular weight of about 12,000 Da to about 100,000 Da.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.