Description
General Description
Lipoic Acid-PEG-Maleimide (LA-PEG-Mal) is a versatile heterobifunctional PEG linker designed for nanoparticle surface engineering and thiol-specific bioconjugation. The lipoic acid moiety forms stable attachment to gold nanoparticles, gold electrodes, and other noble metal surfaces through strong sulfur-metal interactions, providing superior stability compared with many monothiol anchors.
The terminal maleimide group reacts rapidly and selectively with sulfhydryl (thiol) groups on cysteine-containing peptides, proteins, antibodies, enzymes, and other biomolecules under mild aqueous conditions to form stable thioether linkages.
The hydrophilic PEG spacer improves water solubility, molecular flexibility, biocompatibility, and reduces nonspecific protein adsorption, making the linker ideal for constructing functionalized nanoparticles, biosensors, diagnostic platforms, and targeted therapeutic systems.
Applications
- Gold nanoparticle functionalization
- Gold surface modification
- Biosensor fabrication
- Thiol-specific bioconjugation
- Antibody conjugation
- Peptide conjugation
- Protein immobilization
- Drug delivery systems
- Molecular imaging
- Biomaterials research
Features and Benefits
- Heterobifunctional PEG linker
- Lipoic acid surface anchor
- Reactive maleimide functionality
- Selective thiol conjugation
- Forms stable thioether bonds
- Excellent water solubility
- Reduced nonspecific protein adsorption
- Excellent biocompatibility
- Available in multiple PEG molecular weights
