structure and properties of pharmacologically active polymers英文文献资料.pdf

J. POLYMER SCI.: Symposium No. 51, 135-153 (1975) STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF PHARMACOLOGICALLY ACTIVE POLYMERS HELMUT RINGSDORF Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Mainz, 65 Mainz, J.-J.-Becher-Weg, Germany SYNOPSIS Although the concept of using pharmacologically active macromolecular com- pounds as drugs is still regarded with much skepticism for both theoretical and practical reasons, interest in this field has grown in recent years because of the opportunity to take advantage of the specific properties of polymeric materials. For low molecular weight drugs, changes in structure often lead to a loss of specific activity. On the other hand, the properties of macromolecular drugs depend on the structure of the polymer used and this can be varied over a wide range by the in- corporation of comonomer units, by the application of polymer-analogous reactions, or by related structural changes. A new model is presented for pharmacologically active polymers which incorporates the possibility for continuous variation in ( a ) solubility and toxicity, ( b ) fixation and removal of active material, and (c) body distribution. Using the new model as a guide, examples of the synthesis and study of the biological activity of various macromolecular drugs are presented in order to emphasize the importance of this cooperative effort between polymer research and therapeutic problems. INTRODUCTION The investigation of biomaterials is one of the newest and most excit- ing areas of polymer chemistry. Especially interesting are investigations of pharmacologically active polymers repre