Ultraviolet Light- or pH-Triggered Nitric Oxide Release from a Water-Soluble Polymeric Scaffold

Abstract

To develop nitric oxide (NO)-releasing donors, we synthesized N-nitrosamine-functionalized water-soluble alternating copolymer as a macromolecular scaffold with a high half-life. A reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of maleic anhydride (MA) and styrene (S) using poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (mPEG) containing macro-chain transfer agent (mPEG-CDP) (CDP = 4-cyano-(dodecylsulfanylthiocarbonyl)sulfanyl pentanoic acid) produced the mPEG-b-P(MA-alt-S) polymeric scaffold, which was further modified with NO binding motifs. NO detection performed by Griess assay and 1,2-diaminoanthraquinone demonstrated a controlled release of NO from the polymer in acidic pH or with 254 nm UV light.