Surface modification of activated polymeric matrices by dendritic attachments

Aware of the growing interest in materials that exhibit specific physiochemical properties and potential applications, we focused our work on modifying commercial agarose with polyfunctional dendrons capable of molecular recognition through hydrogen bonding. 2,6‐Di(acylamino)pyridine moieties within the internal superstructure of dendritic macromolecules have been reported to be capable of forming H‐bonded complexes with imide groups, such as barbituric acid and its derivatives. We report the synthesis of new dendrons possessing multiple 2,6‐di(acylamino)pyridinyl sites, each capable of molecular recognition, and the development of new polymeric supports of an activated agarose matrix by surface modification. From comparative studies of the beads modified by different dendrons, we found improved results in those dendritic supports possessing 2,6‐di(acylamino)pyridinyl moieties, except when their juxtaposition between the groups promoted inner H bonds. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 2779–2786, 2000