| Abstract: | A 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. |
