Preparation and PCR-amplification properties of a novel amphiphilic poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) copolymer

Abstract

A novel amphiphilic copolymer, P(NVP-co-TrpAMT) (9) was prepared, comprising hydrophilic N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP; 8) and hydrophobic 'N-[(tert-butoxy)carbonyl]tryptophanamido-N′-methacryl thiourea' (TrpAMT; 7) segments. The amphiphilic copolymer 9 was characterized by 1H-NMR, GPC-MALLS, TEM, and MTT assay. It has a critical micelle concentration (cmc) of 45.7 mg/l in aqueous solution, and good biocompatibility in vivo. According to TEM, the polymer is mostly present as spherical micelles in water, with a diameter of ca. 60-90 nm. In the presence of 0.1 μg/ml of 9, the PCR amplification of the GC-rich β-actin was efficiently enhanced. Also, the fluorescence intensity of the reporter dye SYBR Green I was increased by 26% at the 14th cycle during real-time PCR of plasmid pUC18 DNA. © 2007 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.