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Rainer Haag

Publications and source records attributed to Rainer Haag.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Polymer therapeutics: concepts and applications.

Polymer therapeutics encompass polymer-protein conjugates, drug-polymer conjugates, and supramolecular drug-delivery systems. Numerous polymer-protein conjugates with improved stability and pharmacokinetic properties have been developed, for example, by anchoring enzymes or biologically relevant proteins to polyethylene glycol components (PEGylation). Several polymer-protein conjugates have received market approval, for example the PEGylated form of adenosine deaminase. Coupling low-molecular-weight anticancer drugs to high-molecular-weight polymers through a cleavable linker is an effective method for improving the therapeutic index of clinically established agents, and the first candidates have been evaluated in clinical trials, including, N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide conjugates of doxorubicin, camptothecin, paclitaxel, and platinum(II) complexes. Another class of polymer therapeutics are drug-delivery systems based on well-defined multivalent and dendritic polymers. These include polyanionic polymers for the inhibition of virus attachment, polycationic complexes with DNA or RNA (polyplexes), and dendritic core-shell architectures for the encapsulation of drugs. In this Review an overview of polymer therapeutics is presented with a focus on concepts and examples that characterize the salient features of the drug-delivery systems.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Electrolysis as an efficient key step in the homogeneous polymer-supported synthesis of N-substituted pyrroles.

[reaction: see text]. An efficient and general route to the soluble polymer-assisted synthesis of a set of 14 different N-substituted pyrroles using dendritic polyglycerol as a high-loading support is presented. The transformation of furan to the key intermediate 2,5-dialkoxytetrahydrofuran was performed by electrochemical oxidation followed by catalytic hydrogenation with Pt/C in high yield. Both reactions required heterogeneous reagents which can be conveniently used with polyglycerol as a soluble support.

Electrolysis↗
PubMed2006

pH-Responsive dendritic core-shell architectures as amphiphilic nanocarriers for polar drugs.

In this paper a simple general synthetic concept was used to generate dendritic core-shell architectures based on hyperbranched poly(ethylene imine) cores and different shells which contain aliphatic chains and poly(ethylene glycol) chains, respectively. Using these dendritic core-shell architectures as nanocarriers we studied the encapsulation and transport of polar drugs, such as congo red. The results showed that the acid labile nanocarriers exhibited much higher transport capacities for congo red than the bare poly(ethylene imine). This gives an opportunity for the controlled release of encapsulated dyes and drugs by a pH-triggered cleavage of the imine bond. In two cases the pH-sensitivity was studied and a relatively high stability of the imine bond was observed at pH 8, while fast cleavage occurred at pH 5-7. This pH difference correspond to the pH-shift in malignant tissues (tumor, infection) compared to normal tissue, which could trigger the release of the encapsulated drugs.

Aldehydes↗
PubMed2005

Highly regioselective synthesis of amino-functionalized dendritic polyglycerols by a one-pot hydroformylation/reductive amination sequence.

[reaction: see text] Dendritic architectures with neutral core structures and amines groups in the shell are a synthetic challenge, and there is a need for an efficient access. In this paper, highly selective Rh-catalysts are used for sequential hydroformylation/reductive amination of dendritic perallylated polyglycerols 1 with various amines in a one-pot procedure to give dendritic polyamines 3a-e in high yields (73-99%). In all cases, complete conversion of the allyl ether and aldehyde intermediate has been observed. Furthermore, the use of protected amines provides reactive core-shell-type architectures after deprotection. These soluble but membrane filterable multifunctional dendritic polyamines are of high interest as reagents in synthesis or as supports in homogeneous catalysis as well as nonviral vectors for DNA-transfection.

Amination↗
PubMed2005

High-loading polyglycerol supported reagents for Mitsunobu- and acylation-reactions and other useful polyglycerol derivatives.

In this paper we present soluble dendritic polyglycerol (PG) supported reagents PG-DEAD, PG-PPh3, and PG-DCC as well as scavengers PG-carbonate, PG-carbazate, and PG-amine, which all have been synthesized in high overall conversions and yields using simple purification techniques. The supported reagents have been used simultaneously in Mitsunobu and acylation reactions. All polymeric reagents and scavengers can be removed by simple precipitation/filtration protocols to give chromatography-free products of high purity. In the course of the syntheses of the polymeric reagents three intermediates turned out to be precious polyglycerol derivatives: a mixed carbonate as an electrophilic derivative, polyglyceryl carbazate as a scavenger for carbonyl compounds, as well as polyglycerylamines as amino analogues of polyglycerol.

Acylation↗
PubMed2004

Dendritic polyamines: simple access to new materials with defined treelike structures for application in nonviral gene delivery.

Polycationic dendrimers are interesting nonviral vectors for in vitro DNA delivery. We describe a simple approach to the synthesis of dendritic polyamines with different molecular weights and adjustable flexibility (degrees of branching; DB). Both parameters influence the transfection efficiency and the cell toxicity of the polymer. Functionalization of hyperbranched polyethylenimine (PEI) by a two-step procedure generated fully branched pseudodendrimers (analogues of polypropylenimine (PPI) and polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers). The DNA transfection efficiencies observed for these polymers depended on the cell line investigated. The highest efficiencies were observed for polymers whose unfunctionalized PEI cores had molecular weights in the range M(w)=6000-25 000 g mol(-1). The cytotoxicity of the dendrimers generally rises with increasing core size. The data collected for NIH/3T3 and COS-7 cells indicate a maximum transfection efficiency at around 60 % branching for the PPI analogues, and at a PEI-core molecular weight of M(w)=25 000 g mol(-1). PAMAM functionalization of PEI (M(w)=5000 and 21 000 g mol(-1)) leads to polymers with little or no cytotoxity in the cell lines investigated.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Syntheses and phase-transfer properties of dendritic nanocarriers that contain perfluorinated shell structures.

Perfect dendrimers that contain perfluorinated shells have recently attracted attention because they have been shown to encapsulate polar molecules in supercritical CO(2) and catalytically active metal nanoparticles in perfluorinated solvents. Moreover, they can then be easily separated after reaction from the biphasic organic/fluorous system. In this paper several dendritic architectures that contain perfluorinated shells were derived by covalent modification of glycerol dendrimers ([G0.5]-[G3.5]), hyperbranched polyglycerol, and polyethyleneimine. These core-shell architectures show interesting physicochemical properties. For example, they are soluble in fluorinated solvents, they are able to transport different guest molecules, and they display thermomorphic behavior. The transport capacity of these molecular nanocarriers increases significantly when amino groups are present in the core. Certain functionalized polyethyleneimines that contain perfluorinated shells show high transport capacities (up to 3 dye molecules per nanocarrier) in perfluorinated solvents. Moreover, these perfluoro-functionalized dendritic polyethyleneimines can act as templates that stabilize nanoparticles; for example, encapsulation and subsequent chemical reduction of Ag(I) ions. Silver nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution (3.9+/-1 nm) have been prepared and characterized by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the encapsulated guest molecules remain accessible to small molecules after transport into the fluorous phase. Therefore, dendritic nanocarriers that contain perfluorinated shells are currently being investigated as polar environments in nonpolar reaction media such as fluorous phases and supercritical CO(2), in particular, for application in homogenous catalysis.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Self-assembled monolayers of dendritic polyglycerol derivatives on gold that resist the adsorption of proteins.

Highly protein-resistant, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of dendritic polyglycerols (PGs) on gold can easily be obtained by simple chemical modification of these readily available polymers with a surface-active disulfide linker group. Several disulfide-functionalized PGs were synthesized by N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-mediated ester coupling of thioctic acid. Monolayers of the disulfide-functionalized PG derivatives spontaneously form on a semitransparent gold surface and effectively prevent the adsorption of proteins, as demonstrated by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) kinetic measurements. A structure-activity relationship relating the polymer architecture to its ability to effectuate protein resistance has been derived from results of different surface characterization techniques (SPR, attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-IR), and contact-angle measurements). Dendritic PGs combine the characteristic structural features of several highly protein-resistant surfaces: a highly flexible aliphatic polyether, hydrophilic surface groups, and a highly branched architecture. PG monolayers are as protein resistant as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) SAMs and are significantly better than dextran-coated surfaces, which are currently used as the background for SPR spectroscopy. Due to the higher thermal and oxidative stability of the bulk PG as compared to the PEG and the easy accessibility of these materials, dendritic polyglycerols are novel and promising candidates as surface coatings for biomedical applications.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2002

Polyglycerol as a high-loading support for boronic acids with application in solution-phase Suzuki cross-couplings.

In this paper, we describe the usage of a soluble high-loading polyglycerol support for functionalized boronic acids without further linker design. The quantitatively formed polyglycerol boron esters were subsequently employed in homogeneous Suzuki cross-coupling reactions to give high yields (84-91%) of functional biaryls with minimal amounts of the Pd catalyst (0.2 mol %). In situ precipitation and ultrafiltration were used as simple and effective purification protocols. Furthermore, the reaction conditions were optimized by the choice of the solvent and the catalyst.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Modern separation techniques for the efficient workup in organic synthesis.

The shift of paradigm in combinatorial chemistry, from large compound libraries (of mixtures) on a small scale towards defined compound libraries where each compound is prepared in an individual well, has stimulated the search for alternative separation approaches. The key to a rapid and efficient synthesis is not only the parallel arrangement of reactions, but simple work-up procedures so as to circumvent time-consuming and laborious purification steps. During the initial development stages of combinatorial synthesis it was believed that rational synthesis of individual compounds could only be achieved by solid-phase strategies. However, there are a number of problems in solid-phase chemistry: most notably there is the need for a suitable linker unit, the limitation of the reaction conditions to certain solvents and reagents, and the heterogeneous reaction conditions. Further disadvantages are: the moderate loading capacities of the polymeric support and the limited stability of the solid support. In the last few years several new separation techniques have been developed. Depending on the chemical problem or the class of compounds to be prepared, one can choose from a whole array of different approaches. Most of these modern separation approaches rely on solution-phase chemistry, even though some of them use solid-phase resins as tools (for example, as scavengers). Several of these separation techniques are based on liquid-liquid phase separation, including ionic liquids, fluorous phases, and supercritical solvents. Besides being benign with respect to their environmental aspects, they also show a number of advantages with respect to the work-up procedures of organic reactions as well as simplicity in the isolation of products. Another set of separation strategies involves polymeric supports (for example, as scavengers or for cyclative cleavage), either as solid phases or as soluble polymeric supports. In contrast to solid-phase resins, soluble polymeric supports allow reactions to be performed under homogeneous conditions, which can be an important factor in catalysis. At the same time, a whole set of techniques has been developed for the separation of these soluble polymeric supports from small target molecules. Finally, miscellaneous separation techniques, such as phase-switchable tags for precipitation by chemical modification or magnetic beads, can accelerate the separation of compounds in a parallel format.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Dendritic polyglycerol: a new versatile biocompatible-material.

Polyglycerol represents the first hyperbranched polymer that can be prepared in a controlled synthesis. It is characterized by the combination of a stable, biocompatible polyether scaffold, high-end group functionality and a compact, well-defined dendrimer-like architecture. These characteristics can be used to generate new materials properties and for biomedical applications to molecularly amplify or multiply effects or to create extremely high local concentrations of drugs, molecular labels, or probe moieties. Therefore, dendritic polyglycerols are expected to lead to new strategies for 'molecular medicine'. In this brief summary, the current state of the art in polyglycerol research is given, focusing on applications in life sciences.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed2001

Correlating Electron Transport and Molecular Structure in Organic Thin Films This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, and the National Science Foundation ECS-97294053. R.E.H. thanks the National Institutes of Health for a postdoctoral fellowship, and R.H. thanks the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the BASF fellowship program for financial support. We thank Andreas Terfort for the synthesis of aromatic thiols. Collaboration between Caracas and Evanston is supported by NSF Conicit.

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Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Highly Exo-Selective Epoxidation and Hydroxylation of Triquinacene and Its Derivatives: all-exo-Hexahydroxytriquinane.

Epoxidation of triquinacene 3 with dimethyldioxirane proceeded with a high degree of exo-face selectivity to give a quantitative yield of a 1:1.5 mixture of all-exo-4a and endo,exo,exo-triepoxytriquinane 4b. Subsequent lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the all-exo-triepoxide 4a gave all-exo-2,5,8-5a and all-exo-2,5,9-trihydroxytriquinane 5b, respectively. The straightforward 3-fold dihydroxylation of triquinacene 3 led exclusively to the all-exo-hexahydroxytriquinane 8 in one step. X-ray crystal structure analyses confirmed the configuration of the triepoxide 4b and the hexaacetate 9 of the hexol 8.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dendritic polyglycerol sulfates as new heparin analogues and potent inhibitors of the complement system.

Due to several limitations of heparin, a widely used antithrombotic drug, there is large interest to develop alternatives. The aim of the presented study was to produce fully synthetic highly branched heparin mimetics. For this purpose, a new type of 'treelike' polysulfated polymers based on dendritic polyglycerol was synthesized. An efficient synthetic approach has been chosen to prepare several polyglycerol sulfates with different molecular weights as well as a polyglycerol carboxylate analogue and to evaluate them for their anticoagulant and anticomplementary activities. In contrast to the nonderivatized and the carboxylated polyglycerols, the polyglycerol sulfates prolong the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time (TT) and inhibit both the classical (CCA) and alternative complement activation (ACA). Whereas their anticoagulant activity in the APTT and in the TT amounts to 5.7-8.1% and 15.7-33.6%, respectively, of that of unfractionated heparin (UFH), their CCA and ACA inhibitory activity is 13.4-23.9 and 2.7-3.7 times, respectively, higher. In contrast to sulfated polysaccharides, the activities are not clearly dependent on the molecular weight, which might be due to the globular 3D-structure of the dendritic molecules. Due to the coherence between coagulation, complement activation and inflammation in the pathophysiology of numerous diseases, polyglycerol sulfates with both anticoagulant and anticomplementary activities represent promising candidates for the development of potential drugs.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dendritic aliphatic polyethers as high-loading soluble supports for carbonyl compounds and parallel membrane separation techniques.

This paper describes the use of dendritic polyglycerol as a new high-loading polymeric support. The soluble polyether skeleton allows the parallel synthesis of small libraries on a large scale (1-5 mmol). Purification of polymer-bound products is easily achieved by a parallel dialysis apparatus, which was developed to separate up to 12 reaction mixtures simultaneously. The terminal 1,2-diol groups of polyglycerol (loading capacity: 4.1 mmol diol/g) can be directly coupled with carbonyl compounds without additional linker groups. At the same time the polyglycerol support acts as a polymeric ketal protecting group. The coupling of the carbonyl compounds occurs in high yields, and effective loading capacities of up to 3.5 mmol of ketone/g can be reached. The obtained polymeric acetals can easily be characterized by standard analytical techniques, such as NMR, IR, UV, and SEC. The versatility of this new polymeric support for solution-phase organic synthesis is demonstrated by two efficient polymer-supported syntheses: nucleophilic substitutions of gamma-chloroketones with amines and Suzuki-coupling on p-bromobenzaldehyde. The acid-catalyzed acetal cleavage with a solid-phase acidic ion-exchange resin in methanol demonstrates the orthogonal use of these soluble polymeric supports with conventional solid-phase reagents. Cleavage of products occurs in high yields, and almost complete recovery (>95%) of the polyglycerol support has been demonstrated after phase separation or ultrafiltration.

Journal Article↗