Travelling‐wave ion mobility mass spectrometry and negative ion fragmentation of hybrid and complex N‐glycans

Nitrogen collisional cross sections (CCSs) of hybrid and complex glycans released from the glycoproteins IgG, gp120 (from human immunodeficiency virus), ovalbumin, α1‐acid glycoprotein and thyroglobulin were measured with a travelling‐wave ion mobility mass spectrometer using dextran as the calibrant. The utility of this instrument for isomer separation was also investigated. Some isomers, such as Man₃GlcNAc₃ from chicken ovalbumin and Man₃GlcNAc₃Fuc₁ from thyroglobulin could be partially resolved and identified by their negative ion fragmentation spectra obtained by collision‐induced decomposition (CID). Several other larger glycans, however, although existing as isomers, produced only asymmetric rather than separated arrival time distributions (ATDs). Nevertheless, in these cases, isomers could often be detected by plotting extracted fragment ATDs of diagnostic fragment ions from the negative ion CID spectra obtained in the transfer cell of the Waters Synapt mass spectrometer. Coincidence in the drift times of all fragment ions with an asymmetric ATD profile in this work, and in the related earlier paper on high‐mannose glycans, usually suggested that separations were because of conformers or anomers, whereas symmetrical ATDs of fragments showing differences in drift times indicated isomer separation. Although some significant differences in CCSs were found for the smaller isomeric glycans, the differences found for the larger compounds were usually too small to be analytically useful. Possible correlations between CCSs and structural types were also investigated, and it was found that complex glycans tended to have slightly smaller CCSs than high‐mannose glycans of comparable molecular weight. In addition, biantennary glycans containing a core fucose and/or a bisecting GlcNAc residue fell on different mobility‐m/z trend lines to those glycans not so substituted with both of these substituents contributing to larger CCSs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiation of Boc‐protected α,δ‐/δ,α‐ and β,δ‐/δ,β‐hybrid peptide positional isomers by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Two new series of Boc‐N‐α,δ‐/δ,α‐ and β,δ‐/δ,β‐hybrid peptides containing repeats of L ‐Ala‐δ⁵‐Caa/δ⁵‐Caa‐L ‐Ala and β³‐Caa‐δ⁵‐Caa/δ⁵‐Caa‐β³‐Caa (L ‐Ala = L ‐alanine, Caa = C‐linked carbo amino acid derived from D ‐xylose) have been differentiated by both positive and negative ion electrospray ionization (ESI) ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). MSⁿ spectra of protonated isomeric peptides produce characteristic fragmentation involving the peptide backbone, the Boc‐group, and the side chain. The dipeptide positional isomers are differentiated by the collision‐induced dissociation (CID) of the protonated peptides. The loss of 2‐methylprop‐1‐ene is more pronounced for Boc‐NH‐L ‐Ala‐δ‐Caa‐OCH₃ (1), whereas it is totally absent for its positional isomer Boc‐NH‐δ‐Caa‐L ‐Ala‐OCH₃ (7), instead it shows significant loss of t‐butanol. On the other hand, second isomeric pair shows significant loss of t‐butanol and loss of acetone for Boc‐NH‐δ‐Caa‐β‐Caa‐OCH₃ (18), whereas these are insignificant for its positional isomer Boc‐NH‐β‐Caa‐δ‐Caa‐OCH₃ (13). The tetra‐ and hexapeptide positional isomers also show significant differences in MS² and MS³ CID spectra. It is observed that ‘b’ ions are abundant when oxazolone structures are formed through five‐membered cyclic transition state and cyclization process for larger ‘b’ ions led to its insignificant abundance. However, b₁⁺ ion is formed in case of δ,α‐dipeptide that may have a six‐membered substituted piperidone ion structure. Furthermore, ESI negative ion MS/MS has also been found to be useful for differentiating these isomeric peptide acids. Thus, the results of MS/MS of pairs of di‐, tetra‐, and hexapeptide positional isomers provide peptide sequencing information and distinguish the positional isomers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chiral separation of amides of amino acid on a (S)‐N‐(3,5‐dinitrobenzoyl)leucine‐N‐phenyl‐N‐propylamide‐bonded silica using nonaqueous capillary electrochromatography

(S)‐N‐(3,5‐dinitrobenzoyl)leucine‐N‐phenyl‐N‐propylamine‐bonded silica was used as a chiral stationary phase for separation of a set of racemic π‐acidic and π‐basic α‐amino acid amides in electrolyteless ACN‐water eluents by CEC in the RP and polar organic (PO) modes. The effect of the amount of water in the ACN‐water eluent on chiral separation was examined. As water is added to ACN, retention was shortened but resolution and selectivity deteriorated severely. Retention, enantioselectivity, and resolution factors obtained in 100% ACN were compared with those in an n‐hexane‐isopropanol eluent with a small amount of water by normal phase (NP) CEC. Much shorter retention times with comparable enantioselectivities were observed with 100% ACN, demonstrating the advantage of separation on (S)‐N‐(DNB)leucine‐N‐phenyl‐N‐propylamine‐bonded silica in PO‐CEC over NP‐CEC.     

Chemometric analysis for optimizing derivatization in gas chromatography‐based procedures

This paper focuses on the application of principal component analysis (PCA) to facilitate the optimization of the derivatization of oestrogenic steroids—estrone, 17β‐estradiol, estriol, 17α‐ethinylestradiol and diethylstilbestrol—in order to achieve (1) the complete derivatization of all the hydroxyl groups contained in the structure of the compounds and (2) the greatest effectiveness of this reaction. Six different derivatization reagents were used in this study, whereas 2‐methyl‐anthracene was applied as the internal standard to evaluate the effectiveness of the reactions. The experimental data were subjected to PCA. With PCA, the dimensionality of the original multivariable data set could be reduced and the selection of optimum conditions for derivatization facilitated. The mixture of 99% N,O‐bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide + 1% trimethylchlorosilane and pyridine (1:1, v/v) at 60 °C for 30 min has been established as the most convenient and efficient means of derivatizing the aforementioned oestrogenic steroids and diethylstilbestrol; the N‐methyl‐N‐(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide + pyridine (1:1, v/v) mixture seems to be a promising alternative. The application of PCA for optimizing the derivatization procedure, proposed for the first time in this study, is particularly useful in the development of multicomponent methods across several chemical classes of compounds. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Manganese‐based transition metal complexes as new catalysts for olefin polymerizations

Three manganese complexes, Mn(acac)₃ (acac = acetylacetonate), Cp₂Mn (Cp = cyclopentadienyl), and Mn(salen)Cl [salen = 1,2‐cyclohexanediamino‐N,N′‐bis(3,5‐dit‐butyl‐salicylidene)], were used for ethylene and propylene polymerizations. These complexes, in combination with an alkylaluminum cocatalyst such as methylaluminoxane (MAO) or diethyl aluminum chloride (AlEt₂Cl), could promote ethylene polymerizations that yielded extremely high molecular weight linear polymers, but were inactive for propylene polymerizations. The counterparts supported on MgCl₂ showed activities even for propylene polymerizations and had remarkably enhanced activities for ethylene polymerizations. In the presence of an electron donor such as ethylbenzoate, the MgCl₂‐supported manganese‐based catalysts yielded a highly isotactic polypropylene with a high molecular weight. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 3733–3738, 2001     

Open tubular capillary electrochromatography with an N‐phenylacrylamide‐styrene copolymer‐based stationary phase for the separation of anomers of glucose and structural isomers of maltotriose

A ligand with a terminal halogen (4‐chloromethylphenyl isocyanate) was chemically bound on the inner surface of pretreated silica capillary with 50 μm internal diameter and 58 cm total and 50 cm effective length in the presence of dibutyl tin dichloride as a catalyst through isocyanate‐hydroxyl reaction. Attachment of initiator (sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate) to the bound ligand was carried out and followed by in situ polymerization. Reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization was used for the immobilization of N‐phenylacrylamide‐styrene copolymer on the inner surface of capillary column. The resultant open tubular column showed excellent separation performance for derivatized saccharide isomers in capillary electrochromatography. d ‐Glucose was separated into α‐ and β‐anomers while five structural isomers were separated for derivatized maltotriose with separation efficiency above one million theoretical plates per meter. The effects of pH and acetonitrile composition on the electrochromatographic performance of the derivatized saccharides were studied and the optimized elution condition was found to be 90:10 v/v% acetonitrile/30 mM sodium acetate at pH 6.6. UV absorption at 214 nm was used as detection mode in open tubular capillary electrochromatography separations.     

Characteristic ion clusters as determinants for the identification of pyrrolizidine alkaloid N‐oxides in pyrrolizidine alkaloid–containing natural products using HPLC–MS analysis

Pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA)–containing plants are widely distributed in the world. PAs are hepatotoxic, affecting livestock and humans. PA N‐oxides are often present together with PAs in plants and also exhibit hepatotoxicity but with less potency. HPLC–MS is generally used to analyze PA‐containing herbs, although PA references are unavailable in most cases. However, to date, without reference standards, HPLC–MS methodology cannot distinguish PA N‐oxides from PAs because they both produce the same characteristic ions in mass spectra. In the present study, the mass spectra of 10 PA N‐oxides and the corresponding PAs were systemically investigated using HPLC–MS to define the characteristic mass fragment ions specific to PAs and PA N‐oxides. Mass spectra of toxic retronecine‐type PA N‐oxides exhibited two characteristic ion clusters at m/z 118–120 and 136–138. These ion clusters were produced by three unique fragmentation pathways of PA N‐oxides and were not found in their corresponding PAs. Similarly, the nontoxic platynecine‐type PA N‐oxides also fragmented via three similar pathways to form two characteristic ion clusters at m/z 120–122 and 138–140. Further application of using these characteristic ion clusters allowed successful and rapid identification of PAs and PA N‐oxides in two PA‐containing herbal plants. Our results demonstrated, for the first time, that these characteristic ion clusters are unique determinants to discriminate PA N‐oxides from PAs even without the availability of reference samples. Our findings provide a novel and specific method to differentiate PA N‐oxides from PAs in PA‐containing natural products, which is crucial for the assessment of their intoxication. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classification of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) micrographs to characterize chemical phases

This work demonstrates the potential of multivariate image analysis methods in the extraction of useful, problem dependent information from SIMS images. Specific algorithms have been developed to classify SIMS micrographs manually as well as automatically. A feature selection has been achieved by means of principal component analysis with a subsequent image classification.As an application example for these improved digital image processing tools chemical phases within a soldered industrial metal sample have been identified. This is of highly practical value as it was assumed that during the soldering process inhomogeneities occur along the joint site which cause a cracking of the brazed material under mechanical strain conditions.     

Characterization of N‐Boc/Fmoc/Z‐N′‐formyl‐gem‐diaminoalkyl derivatives using electrospray ionization multi‐stage mass spectrometry

N‐Boc/Fmoc/Z‐N′‐formyl‐gem‐diaminoalkyl derivatives, intermediates particularly useful in the synthesis of partially modified retro‐inverso peptides, have been characterized by both positive and negative ion electrospray ionization (ESI) ion‐trap multi‐stage mass spectrometry (MSⁿ). The MS² collision induced dissociation (CID) spectra of the sodium adduct of the formamides derived from the corresponding N‐Fmoc/Z‐amino acids, dipeptide and tripeptide acids show the [M + Na‐NH₂CHO]⁺ ion, arising from the loss of formamide, as the base peak. Differently, the MS² CID spectra of [M + Na]⁺ ion of all the N‐Boc derivatives yield the abundant [M + Na‐C₄H₈]⁺ and [M + Na‐Boc + H]⁺ ions because of the loss of isobutylene and CO₂ from the Boc protecting function. Useful information on the type of amino acids and their sequence in the N‐protected dipeptidyl and tripeptidyl‐N′‐formamides is provided by MS² and subsequent MSⁿ experiments on the respective precursor ions. The negative ion ESI mass spectra of these oligomers show, in addition to [M‐H]^?, [M + HCOO]^? and [M + Cl]^? ions, the presence of in‐source CID fragment ions deriving from the involvement of the N‐protecting group. Furthermore, MSⁿ spectra of [M + Cl]^? ion of N‐protected dipeptide and tripeptide derivatives show characteristic fragmentations that are useful for determining the nature of the C‐terminal gem‐diamino residue. The present paper represents an initial attempt to study the ESI‐MS behavior of these important intermediates and lays the groundwork for structural‐based studies on more complex partially modified retro‐inverso peptides. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a mass spectrometric hydroxyl‐position determination method for the hydroxyindole metabolites of JWH‐018 by GC‐MS/MS

One of the many issues of designer drugs of abuse like synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) such as JWH‐018 is that details on their metabolism has yet to be fully elucidated and that multiple metabolites exist. The presence of isomeric compounds poses further challenges in their identification. Our group has previously shown the effectiveness of gas chromatography‐electron ionization‐tandem mass spectrometry (GC‐EI‐MS/MS) in the mass spectrometric differentiation of the positional isomers of the naphthoylindole‐type SC JWH‐081, and speculated that the same approach could be used for the metabolite isomers. Using JWH‐018 as a model SC, the aim of this study was to differentiate the positional isomers of its hydroxyindole metabolites by GC‐MS/MS. Standard compounds of JWH‐018 and its hydroxyindole metabolite positional isomers were first analyzed by GC‐EI‐MS in full scan mode, which was only able to differentiate the 4‐hydroxyindole isomer. Further GC‐MS/MS analysis was performed by selecting m/z 302 as the precursor ion. All four isomers produced characteristic product ions that enabled the differentiation between them. Using these ions, MRM analysis was performed on the urine of JWH‐018 administered mice and determined the hydroxyl positions to be at the 6‐position on the indole ring. GC‐EI‐MS/MS allowed for the regioisomeric differentiation of the hydroxyindole metabolite isomers of JWH‐018. Furthermore, analysis of the fragmentation patterns suggests that the present method has high potential to be extended to hydroxyindole metabolites of other naphthoylindole type SCs in identifying the position of the hydroxyl group on the indole ring. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental and computational study on the dissociation behavior of hydroxypyridine N‐oxides in atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry

A tandem mass spectrometric study of protonated isomeric hydroxypyridine N‐oxides was carried out with a hybrid quadrupole/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer coupled with different atmospheric pressure ionization sources. The behavior observed in the collision‐induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra of the parent cations, was similar irrespective of the source employed. However, there were intrinsic differences in the intensities of the two fragments observed for each isomer. The major fragment because of elimination of a hydroxyl radical, dominated the CID spectra (in contrast with weaker water loss) at different energy thresholds. Therefore, it was possible to differentiate both isomers at collision energies above 13 eV by comparing the ratio of intensities of the major fragment relative to the precursor cation. In addition, quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6‐31 + + G(d,p) level of theory were performed for the protonated isomers of hydroxypyridine N‐oxide and their radical cation products in order to gain insight into the major routes of dissociation. The results suggest that dissociation from the lowest triplet excited state of the protonated species would provide a reasonable rationalization for the difference in behavior of both isomers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1,2,4‐Triazole‐based N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes of gold(I): synthesis,characterization and biological activity

Two gold(I) complexes of the (NHC)AuX type bearing a triazole‐based N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand (1‐tert‐butyl‐4‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐3‐phenyl‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐4‐ium‐5‐ylidene) and various halide ligands (X = Br, I) were synthesized and characterized in solution using NMR spectroscopy as well as in the solid state using X‐ray diffraction techniques. The cytotoxic properties of both compounds and the precursor, (NHC)AuCl, were screened against a panel of human tumour cell lines including liver cancer (HepG2), cervical cancer (HeLa S3) and leukaemia (CCRF‐CEM, HL‐60) and compared to cisplatin and auranofin. It was found that the activities of the chloro and bromo derivatives were generally superior to that of cisplatin and slightly less effective compared to auranofin, except for HepG2 cells where auranofin was not as effective. In addition, the ability to induce membrane phosphatidyl serine externalization as a hallmark of apoptosis in CCRF‐CEM leukaemic cells was investigated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of novel rhodium‐xylyl linked N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes as hydrosilylation catalysts

Reaction of ortho‐xylylbis(N‐2,4,6‐trimethylbenzylimidazolinium); xylylbis(N‐butylimidazolinium) and para‐xylylbis(N‐2,4,6‐trimethylbenzylimidazolinium); xylylbis(N‐butylimidazolinium) salts with KOBu^t and [RhCl(COD)]₂ yields ortho‐ and para‐xylylbis{(N‐alkylimidazolidin‐2‐ylidene)chloro(η⁴‐1,5‐cyclooctadiene) rho dium(I)} complexes (2a–d). All compounds synthesized were characterized by elemental analysis and NMR spectroscopy, and the molecular structures of the 2a and 2d were determined by X‐ray crystallography. Triethylsilane reacts with acetophenone derivatives in the presence of catalytic amount of the new rhodium(I)–carbene complexes (2a–d), to give the corresponding silylethers in good yields (83–99%). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coinage metal complexes of N‐heterocyclic carbene bearing nitrile functionalization: Synthesis and photophysical properties

A new series of N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand precursors ( 1 and 2 ) with their [Ag(I)(NHC)₂]PF₆ complexes ( 3 and 4 ) and [ClAu(I)(NHC)] complexes ( 5 and 6 ) are reported. Complexes 5 and 6 were synthesized via transmetalation reaction using either 3 or 4 and AuCl(SMe₂) as reactants, respectively. All the synthesized compounds were fully characterized using elemental analyses and Fourier transform infrared, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies. In the crystal structures of 3 , 5 and 6 , the Ag(I) and Au(I) ions are in a linear geometry. The entire structure of 3 is stabilized by significant π–π interactions, while the structures of 5 and 6 are stabilized with the presence of aurophilic interactions between the adjacent Au(I) ions as well as CH–π or π–π interactions. From photoluminescence studies, complexes 5 and 6 show dual‐emission characteristics. The higher‐energy fluorescence originates from ¹XLCT mixed with ¹MLCT, while the lower‐energy phosphorescence is ascribed to ³XLCT and ³MLCT with small contribution of ³ILCT, as evidenced by density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent DFT calculations of the modelled molecules.     

Qualitative and quantitative comparison of N‐glycans between pig endothelial and islet cells by high‐performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry‐based strategy

N‐glycan structures released from miniature pig endothelial and islet cells were determined by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF), negative ion electrospray ionization (ESI) MS/MS and normal‐phase high performance liquid chromatography (NP‐HPLC) combined with exoglycosidase digestion. Totally, the identified structures were 181 N‐glycans including 129 sialylated and 18 α‐galactosylated glycans from pig endothelial cells and 80 N‐glycans including 41 sialylated and one α‐galactosylated glycans from pig islet cells. The quantity of the α‐galactosylated glycans from pig islet cells was certainly neglectable compared to pig endothelial cells. A number of NeuGc‐terminated N‐glycans (80 from pig endothelial cells and 13 from pig islet cells) are newly detected by our mass spectrometric strategies. The detailed structural information will be a matter of great interest in organ or cell xenotransplantation using α 1,3‐galactosyltransferase gene‐knockout (GalT‐KO) pig. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis,structural characterization and biological evaluation of mononuclear transition metal complexes of zwitterionic dehydroacetic acid N‐aroylhydrazone ligand

Synthesis and characterization of mononuclear transition metal complexes viz., Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) with a newly designed ligand, (E)‐2‐benzamido‐N'‐(1‐(2‐hydroxy‐6‐methyl‐4‐oxo‐4H‐pyran‐3‐yl) ethylidene) benzohydrazide ( H ₂ L ) are reported. Molecular structures of H ₂ L , Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies. The structures were stabilized by various intra/inter‐molecular H‐bonding, C‐H···π and π···π stacking interactions. H ₂ L exists in zwitterionic form and acts in a monoanionic manner. Ligand/metal ratio was 2:1 for cobalt, nickel and zinc, whereas 1:1 for the copper complex. Co(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes display distorted octahedral geometry, while the Cu(II) complex shows distorted square pyramidal geometry around the metal ion. Hirshfeld surface analysis and 2D fingerprint plots revealed that H ₂ L and its complexes were supported mainly by H?H, O?H and C?H intermolecular interactions. The synthesized compounds were screened for in vitro anti‐inflammatory activity by gelatin zymography and the activity was comparable with tetracycline. Their cleavage behavior towards calf thymus DNA has been studied using agarose gel electrophoresis method. H ₂ L and Cu(II) complex were selected by National Cancer Institute (NCI) for in vitro single dose testing in the full NCI 60 cell lines panel assay. Finally, molecular docking simulation effectively proves the binding of all the synthesized compounds at cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) active sites.     

13C GIAO DFT calculation as a tool for configuration prediction of N–O group in saturated heterocyclic N‐oxides

Tropane, tropinone, pseudopelletierine and cocaine were oxidized in situ in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tube providing mixtures of exo/endo N‐oxides. Observed ¹³C chemical shifts were correlated with values calculated by gauge‐including atomic orbitals density functional theory (DFT) OPBE/6‐31G* method using DFT B3LYP/6‐31G* optimized geometries. The same method of ¹³C chemical shift calculation was applied on series of methyl‐substituted 1‐methylpiperidines and their epimeric N‐oxides described in literature. The results show that using this undemanding calculation method enables assignment of configuration of N–O group in N‐epimeric saturated heterocyclic N‐oxides. The approach enables assigning of the configuration with high degree of certainty even if NMR data of only one isomer are available. An improved method of in situ oxidation of starting amines in an NMR tube is also described. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiation of AB‐FUBINACA positional isomers by the abundance of product ions using electron ionization–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometric differentiation of structural isomers is important for the analysis of forensic samples. Presently, there is no mass spectrometric method for differentiating halogen positional isomers of cannabimimetic compounds. We describe here a novel and practical method for differentiating one of these compounds, N‐(1‐amino‐3‐methyl‐1‐oxobutan‐2‐yl)‐1‐(4‐fluorobenzyl)‐1H‐indazole‐3‐carboxamide (AB‐FUBINACA (para)), and its fluoro positional (ortho and meta) isomers in the phenyl ring by electron ionization–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. It was found that the three isomers differed in the relative abundance of the ion at m/z 109 and 253 in the product ion spectra, while the detected product ions were identical. The logarithmic values of the abundance ratio of the ions at m/z 109 to 253 (ln(A₁₀₉/A₂₅₃)) were in the order meta < ortho < para and increased linearly with collision energy. The differences in abundances were attributed to differences in the dissociation reactivity between the indazole moiety and the fluorobenzyl group because of the halogen‐positional effect on the phenyl ring. Our methodology, which is based on the abundance of the product ions in mass spectra, should be applicable to determination of the structures of other newly encountered designer drugs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elaboration of densely functionalized polylactide nanoparticles from N‐acryloxysuccinimide‐based block copolymers

Poly(N‐acryloxysuccinimide) (PNAS) and poly(N‐acryloxysuccinimide‐co‐N‐vinylpyrrolidone) (P(NAS‐co‐NVP)) of adjustable molecular weights and narrow polydispersities were prepared by nitroxide‐mediated polymerization (NMP) in N,N‐dimethylformamide in the presence of free SG1 (N‐tert‐butyl‐N‐1‐diethylphosphono‐(2,2‐dimethylpropyl) nitroxide), with MAMA‐SG1 (N‐(2‐methylpropyl)‐N‐(1‐diethylphosphono‐2,2‐dimethylpropyl)‐O‐(2‐carboxylprop‐2‐yl)hydroxylamine) alkoxyamine as initiator. The reactivity ratios of NAS and NVP were determined to be r_NAS = 0.12 and r_NVP = 0, indicating a strong alternating tendency for the P(NAS‐co‐NVP) copolymer. NAS/NVP copolymerization was then performed from a SG1‐functionalized poly(D ,L ‐lactide) (PLA‐SG1) macro‐alkoxyamine as initiator, leading to the corresponding PLA‐b‐P(NAS‐co‐NVP) block copolymer, with similar NAS and NVP reactivity ratios as mentioned above. The copolymer was used as a surface modifier for the PLA diafiltration and nanoprecipitation processes to achieve nanoparticles in the range of 450 and 150 nm, respectively. The presence of the functional/hydrophilic P(NAS‐co‐NVP) block, and particularly the N‐succinimidyl (NS) ester moieties at the particle surface, was evidenced by ethanolamine derivatization and zeta potential measurements. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011