Polymer microspheres prepared with a macroinitiator, 2. Sugar balls from 2-methacryloyloxyethyl-D-glucopyranoside

✍ Scribed by Hiromi Kitano; Junko Kawabata; Tadashi Muramoto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 536 KB
• Volume: 197
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1352
• DOI: 10.1002/macp.1996.021971113

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Macroinitiator was prepared by the coupling of the disuccinimidyl ester of 4,4′‐azobis(cyanovaleric acid) with poly(methacryloyloxyethyl‐D‐glucopyranoside) (PMEGlc) with an amino group at its end. Styrene and divinylbenzene were copolymerized using the initiator in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate. The polymer microspheres obtained have PMEGlc chains on their surfaces (“sugar balls”). Aggregation phenomena were observed when a solution of lectin (Con‐A) was added to the suspension, due to a specific recognition of sugar residues on the microsphere by a tetrameric lectin molecule. A suspension of sugar balls could not be flocculated even upon addition of an aqueous 3M NaCl solution due to the thick diffuse layer composed of PMEGlc chains on their surfaces. The utility of macroinitiators to prepare various polymer materials which have biomedical functions on their surfaces is suggested.