Comb-type prepolymers consisting of a polyacrylamide backbone and poly(L-lysine) graft chains for multivalent ligands.

The comb-type copolymers consisting of a polyacrylamide (PAAm) backbone and poly(L-lysine) (PLL) graft chains have been prepared as the "prepolymer" for designing multivalent ligands. To regulate the length and density of the clusters of primary amino groups, the Nalpha-carboxyanhydride of Nepsilon-carbobenzoxy (CBZ)-L-lysine was first polymerized using p-vinylbenzylamine as an initiator. The resulting poly(CBZ-L-lysine) macromonomer was then radically copolymerized with AAm, followed by the deprotection of amino groups. For the model study, the reactive clusters of primary amino groups were completely converted into anion clusters by the reaction with succinic anhydride. The model multivalent ligands having the biotin label on the PAAm backbone were prepared by the terpolymerization of the macromonomer, AAm, and the biotin derivative having a vinyl group. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that the biotin with no spacer on the PAAm backbone was recognized by the avidin-peroxidase conjugate specifically. Therefore, the highly sensitive detection of the interaction between cells and various model multivalent ligands was possible. The selective labeling onto the PAAm backbone revealed that the converted anion clusters of graft chains interacted exclusively with the cell and that the backbone was inert to the interaction with the cell. These results indicate that the various PAAm-graft-PLL comb-type copolymers with the defined length and density of the PLL-grafts are the potential prepolymers to investigate and to optimize the affinity of the multivalent ligands for receptors.