Description
General Description
Maleimide-PEG-PLGA-COOH (MAL-PEG-PLGA-COOH) is a dual-functional biodegradable polymer incorporating polyethylene glycol (PEG), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), a maleimide (MAL) functionality, and a carboxylic acid (COOH) functionality.
The PLGA component provides a biodegradable hydrophobic polymer domain suitable for nanoparticle formation and encapsulation of hydrophobic compounds. PEG provides a hydrophilic spacer that can improve aqueous dispersibility and steric stabilization of polymeric nanoparticles.
The maleimide functionality reacts preferentially with thiols (–SH), particularly cysteine-containing peptides and proteins, to form stable thioether linkages. This chemistry is widely used for attachment of antibodies, peptides, proteins, targeting ligands, and other thiolated molecules.
The carboxylic acid functionality provides an additional chemically addressable group. It can be activated using carbodiimide chemistry such as EDC/NHS and subsequently reacted with primary amines to form stable amide bonds.
The combination of maleimide and carboxyl functionalities enables orthogonal and sequential conjugation strategies, allowing two different molecules or functionalities to be incorporated into the same polymer platform.
Applications
- Multifunctional polymeric nanoparticles
- Targeted drug delivery
- Dual-functional bioconjugation
- Thiol-maleimide conjugation
- EDC/NHS coupling
- Protein and peptide conjugation
- Antibody conjugation
- Targeting ligand attachment
- Nanoparticle surface functionalization
- Biomaterials research
Features and Benefits
- Dual maleimide and carboxyl functionalities
- Biodegradable PLGA component
- Hydrophilic PEG spacer
- Maleimide reactive toward thiols
- Carboxyl group suitable for amine coupling
- Supports orthogonal conjugation strategies
- Suitable for multifunctional nanoparticles
- Tunable PLGA and PEG molecular weights
- Tunable lactide ratio
- Custom compositions available
