Maleamic acid polymer derivatives and their bioconjugates

1. A polymer-conjugate composition prepared according to a method comprising:

(a) providing a water-soluble polymer comprising a maleimide group,

(b) reacting said polymer with an active agent comprising a nucleophile under conditions effective to couple said agent to said water soluble polymer via a Michael-type addition reaction to form a polymer-succinimide-linked active agent conjugate, and

(c) treating the conjugate from (b) under conditions effective to force open said succinimide ring to thereby form a polymer-conjugate composition comprising a polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

2. The composition of claim 1 , in the form of a chemically stable composition.

3. The composition of claim 1 , comprising at least about 15% of said polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

4. The composition of claim 3 , comprising at least about 35% of said polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

5. The composition of claim 4 , comprising at least about 80% of said polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

6. The composition of claim 5 , comprising at least about 95% of said polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

7. The composition of claim 6 , comprising at least about 98% of said polymer-succinamic acid-conjugate.

8. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said active agent is a protein or a peptide.

9. The composition of claim 1 , in the form of a precipitate.

10. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said water-soluble polymer is selected from the group consisting of a poly(alkylene oxide), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), poly(vinyl alcohol), polyoxazoline, poly(acryloylmorpholine), and poly(oxyethylated polyol).

11. The composition of claim 10 , wherein said water-soluble polymer is a poly(alkylene oxide).

12. The composition of claim 11 , wherein said water-soluble polymer is a poly(ethylene glycol).

13. The composition of claim 12 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) comprises an end-capping moiety.

14. The composition of claim 13 , wherein said end-capping moiety is selected from the group consisting alkoxy, substituted alkoxy, alkenyloxy, substituted alkenyloxy, alkynyloxy, substituted alkynyloxy, aryloxy, and substituted aryloxy.

15. The composition of claim 14 , wherein said end-capping moiety is selected from the group consisting of methoxy, ethoxy, and benzyloxy.

16. The composition of claim 12 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) has a nominal average molecular mass of from about 100 daltons to about 100,000 daltons.

17. The composition of claim 16 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) has a nominal average molecular mass of from about 1,000 daltons to about 80,000 daltons.

18. The composition of claim 17 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) has a nominal average molecular mass of from about 2,000 daltons to about 50,000 daltons.

19. The composition of claim 12 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) has a structure selected from the group consisting of linear, branched, forked, and multi-armed.

20. The composition of claim 12 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) comprises the structure:

Z-(CH 2 CH 2 O) n —CH 2 CH 2 —,

where n is from about 10 to about 4000, and Z comprises a moiety selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, amino, ester, carbonate, aldehyde, aldehyde hydrate, acetal, ketone, ketone hydrate, ketal, alkenyl, acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, sulfone, thiol, carboxylic acid, isocyanate, isothiocyanate, hydrazide, urea, maleimide, vinylsulfone, dithiopyridine, vinylpyridine, iodoacetamide, alkoxy, benzyloxy, silane, lipid, phospholipid, biotin, and fluorescein.

21. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said water-soluble polymer comprises a linker, L, interposed between said water-soluble polymer and said maleimide group.

22. The composition of claim 12 , wherein said poly(ethylene glycol) is directly attached to the nitrogen atom of said maleimide group.