Carbohydrate-based initiators for the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline

Abstract

The advancement in the field of living and controlled polymerization techniques provides the opportunity for careful bottom-up design of polymers for biomedical applications according to their specific needs. This contribution describes the detailed methodology to functionalize poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline), a polymer with properties very similar to polyethylene glycol, in a stereo-selective manner with a range of carbohydrates that can serve as biological targeting units. The obtained building blocks can subsequently be applied for the synthesis of more complex polymeric architectures.