Description
General Description
Maleimide-PEG-OH is a versatile heterobifunctional PEG linker designed for thiol-specific conjugation and polymer functionalization. The terminal maleimide group reacts efficiently with sulfhydryl (thiol) groups on cysteine-containing peptides, proteins, antibodies, enzymes, and other biomolecules under mild physiological conditions to form stable thioether bonds with excellent selectivity.
The terminal hydroxyl group serves as a convenient synthetic handle and can be converted into a wide range of functional groups, including carboxyl, amine, NHS ester, aldehyde, azide, alkyne, acrylate, methacrylate, epoxide, and thiol. This makes Maleimide-PEG-OH an important intermediate for the synthesis of customized PEG derivatives and multifunctional biomaterials.
The hydrophilic PEG spacer improves water solubility, molecular flexibility, and biocompatibility while reducing nonspecific protein adsorption. Maleimide-PEG-OH is widely employed in protein conjugation, antibody modification, hydrogel preparation, nanoparticle engineering, targeted drug delivery, and surface modification.
Applications
- Thiol-specific bioconjugation
- Protein conjugation
- Antibody conjugation
- Peptide conjugation
- Polymer synthesis
- Surface modification
- Nanoparticle functionalization
- Hydrogel synthesis
- Drug delivery systems
- Biomaterials research
Features and Benefits
- Heterobifunctional PEG linker
- Reactive terminal maleimide group
- Terminal hydroxyl functionality
- Highly selective thiol conjugation
- Forms stable thioether bonds
- Excellent water solubility
- Excellent biocompatibility
- Versatile synthetic intermediate
- Available in multiple PEG molecular weights
