Hydroxamic acid polymers

Abstract

AbstractA polymer bearing hydroxamic acid groups and having a high affinity for iron(III) was prepared through the following procedure. Acryloylalanine (III), prepared by the reaction of acryloyl chloride with alanine, was treated with N‐hydroxysuccinimide in the presence of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide to give the N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester (IV). The ester IV was polymerized by using AIBN in dioxane to give polymer V. Treatment of polymer V with methylhydroxylamine in DMF gave the hydroxamic acid polymer II. The water‐soluble polymer II was purified by dialysis or by gel‐permeation chromatography (GPC) on Sephadex G‐25. Analytical GPC on Sephadex G‐200 and Sepharose 4B indicate that the average molecular weight of the polymer is in the range of 5 × 105 to 1 × 106. The presence of hydroxamic acid groups is confirmed by the intense red‐brown color produced by the addition of iron(III) to a 50% aqueous DMF solution of the polymer under acidic conditions. In pure water the polymer‐iron complex precipitates as a tan solid. Iron‐binding studies of the polymer reveal that the iron(III) trihydroxamic acid complex FeA3 forms at low concentrations of iron. At higher iron levels a lower order of stability is apparent, which can be accounted for by the conversion of FeA3 to FeA2+. In contrast, the FeA3 complex of the trihydroxamic acid deferoxamine‐B is stable at all iron levels. These results are consistent with the polymer structure, which for steric reasons would favor a stable complex, FeA2+, between iron and two adjacent hydroxamic acid groups. An FeA3 complex would be expected to have a lower stability as a result of either bond angle strain and atomic compression, or a lower probability in bringing a third hydroxamic acid into position to form the octahedral complex.