Synthesis and MALDI-ToF characterization of dendronized poly(ethylene glycol)s

Abstract

Well-defined hybrids of linear poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) and dendritic polyesters were prepared via the dendronization of the alcohol end groups of the mono and difunctional linear PEGs. Though useful for rudimentary product characterization, GPC and NMR could not verify the overall structural purity of these linear-dendritic hybrids. On the other hand, the detailed data provided by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry enabled confirmation of the high structural purity of the dendronized PEGs at each step of the dendronization procedure. The well-defined number of functionalities on these dendronized PEGs, renders them particularly useful for research in the biomedical sphere where functionality and purity are of the utmost importance. The MALDI-ToF mass spectrometric approach described herein represents a valuable technique for detailed monitoring of these dendronization reactions, as well as a variety of other polymer end group modifications.

Analyses of functional polymer-modified nanoparticles for protein sensing by surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry coupled with HgTe nanomatrices

“…carboxyl, amine, thiol, azide, maleimide, biotin) PEG derivatives are commercially available, further extending their utility. Although many diverse multifunctional-PEG-modified NPs have been exploited in both biological and diagnostic applications, simple, highthroughput means of analysis of functional PEG derivatives on NP surfaces are relatively rare, mainly because traditional characterization techniques [gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy] are limited by the weaker signal originating from the end groups tending to be overwhelmed by the stronger signal from the backbone [45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”