Linkages lability

In order to become useful dmg delivery devices, biodegradable polymers must be formable into desired shapes of appropriate size, have adequate dimensional stability and appropriate strength-loss characteristics, be completely biodegradable, and be sterilizahle (70). The polymers most often studied for biodegradable dmg delivery applications are carboxylic acid derivatives such as polyamides poly(a-hydroxy acids) such as poly(lactic acid) [26100-51-6] and poly(glycolic acid) [26124-68-5], cross-linked polyesters poly(orthoesters) poly anhydrides and poly(alkyl 2-cyanoacrylates). The relative stabiUty of hydrolytically labile linkages ia these polymers (70) is as follows ... 

Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids. Part II. Evidence for a Labile Polymeric Linkage in Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids, W. G. Overend, M. Stacey, and M. Webb,/. Chem. Soc., (1951) 2450-2452. 

The contractile apparatus may be thought of as the sum of those intracellular components which constitute the machinery of chemomechanical transduction. It is the set of proteins which convert the chemical energy of the terminal phosphate ester bond of ATP into mechanical work. The structure of the contractile apparatus is determined by the connections between the various protein molecules via specific binding sites or, in a minority of cases, via labile covalent linkages. The kinetics of the contractile machinery are determined by the regulation of changes in these connections. 

One useful drug delivery system is derived from polymers that contain acid-labile linkages in their backbones because hydrolysis rates of such polymers can be readily manipulated by means of acidic or basic excipients physically incorporated into the matrix (2). Further, under certain conditions the hydrolysis of such polymers can be... 

However, in subsequent work it was found that carboxylic acid groups readily add to ketene acetals to form carboxyortho ester linkages (24). These are very labile linkages and on hydrolysis regenerate the carboxylic acid group which then exerts its catalytic function. Because carboxylic acids add so readily to ketene acetals, very labile polymers can be prepared by the addition of diacids to diketene acetals. The utilization of such polymers is currently under investigation. 

Even though poly(ortho esters) contain hydrolytically labile Linkages, they are highly hydrophobic materiads and for this reason are very stable and can be stored without careful exclusion of moisture. However, the ortho ester linkage in the polymer is inherently thermally unstable and at elevated temperatures is believed to dissociate into an alcohol and a ketene acetal (33). A possible mechanism for the thermal degradation is shown below. This thermal degradation is similar to that observed with polyurethanes (34). 

Selection of appropriate conditions to modify polymers is facilitated by preliminary studies with well designed model compounds. The work with model systems is critical when studying condensation polymers because the main chain linkages have proved to be remarkably labile under certain conditions. Condensation of 4-chlorophenyl phenyl sulfone with the disodium salt of blsphenol-A yields 2,2-bis[4 -(4"-phenylsulfonylphenoxyl)phenyl] propane, T, an excellent model for the poly(arylene ether sulfone) substrate. Conditions for quantitative bromination, nitration, chloro-methylation, and aminomethylation of the model compound were established. Comparable conditions were employed to modify the corresponding polymers. 

Kuhn and Low149 (see also, Ref. 150) were the first to recognize that glycosidic linkages that are) to a carbonyl group are alkali-labile, and are... 

Figure 1. Scheme depicting erosion process of polymer disc containing acid labile linkages. (Reproduced with permission from ref. 7. Copyright 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers.)... 

Sheppard RC, Williams BJ. Acid-labile resin linkage agents for use in solid phase peptide synthesis. Int J Peptide Protein Res 1982 20 451 454. 

Other examples of this synthetic strategy are known for example, a recent zirconium polymer by Illingsworth and Burke (8), who joined amine side groups of a zirconium bis(quadridentate Schiff-base) with an acid dianhydride to give amide linkages. Once again, caution is necesary, as Jones and Power (2) learned when they attempted to link metal bisO-diketonates) with sulfur halides that is, they obtained insoluble metal sulfides because the p-diketone complexes which they used were fairly labile and the insolubility drove the reactions to completion in the wrong direction. 

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