Hydrolytic degradation of polyamidines and its potential application in controlled release of active agents

Novel Amidine Protein Cross-Links Formed by the Reaction of Glyoxal with Lysine

One crucial aspect of the Maillard reaction is the formation of reactive α-dicarbonyl structures like glyoxal, which are prone toward further reactions with proteins, e.g., the N⁶-amino group of lysine. The initially formed labile glyoxal-imine was previously established as a key intermediate in the formation of the advanced glycation end products N⁶-carboxymethyl lysine (CML), glyoxal lysine amide (GOLA), glyoxal lysine dimer (GOLD), and N⁶-glycolyl lysine (GALA). Here, we introduce a novel amidine cross-link structure N¹,N²-bis-(5-amino-5-carboxypentyl)-2-hydroxy-acetamidine (glyoxal lysine amidine, GLA), which is formed exclusively from glyoxal through the same isomerization cascade. After independent synthesis of the authentic reference standard, we were able to quantitate this cross-link in incubations of 40 mM N²-t-Boc-lysine with glyoxal and various sugars (40-100 mM) under mild conditions (pH 7.4, 37 °C) using an HPLC-MS/MS method. Furthermore, incubations of proteins (6 mg/mL) with 50 mM glyoxal confirmed the cross-linking by GLA, which was additionally identified in acidic hydrolyzed proteins of butter biscuits after HPLC enrichment.

Novel cationic polyamidine: Synthesis, characterization, and sludge dewatering performance

In this study, a new and facile route was employed for synthesis of polyamidine with abundant cations and attractive five-membered ringlike structural unit. N-vinylformamide and acrylonitrile copolymerized firstly to form intermediates, and the intermediates were processed with hydrochloric acid to produce polyamidine. A series of polymerization conditions (e.g. polymerization time, temperature and dosage of initiator) were optimized through productivity, viscosity and cationic degree as evaluation. SEM analysis illustrated that the amidinization process could reduce the size of spaces between molecular and created compact structure, which would contribute to good flocculation performance and high viscosity. FT-IR, XPS and NMR spectra presented a rather clear structure of polyamidine. 34.3% of sludge was sedimentated through the flocculation of polyamidine in the early stages. In contrast, only 6.8% of sludge was sedimentated by polyacrylamide. The moisture content in dehydrated floc could be reduced to 77.7% when 60mg/L polyamidine was added. These results demonstrated that the polyamidine showed a great potential in the practical application of sludge dewatering.

Polyamide Synthesis from 6-Aminocapronitrile, Part 1:N-Alkyl Amide Formation by Amine Amidation of a Hydrolyzed Nitrile

The synthesis of N-hexylpentanamide from a stoichiometric amount of pentanenitrile and hexylamine has been studied as a model reaction for the synthesis of nylon-6 from 6-aminocapronitrile. The reaction was carried out under mild hydrothermal conditions and in the presence of a homogeneous ruthenium catalyst. For the mild hydrothermal conditions the presence of hexylamine distinctively increases the nitrile hydrolysis compared to the nitrile hydrolysis in the absence of hexylamine. Amine-catalyzed nitrile hydrolysis mainly produces the N-substituted amide. A clear product development is observed, consisting of first the terminal amide formation and second the accumulation of N-hexylpentanamide. With a maximum conversion of only 80 % after 18 h, the nitrile hydrolysis rate at 230 degrees C is still much too low for nylon-6 synthesis. Ruthenium dihydride phosphine was therefore used as a homogeneous catalyst, which significantly increases the nitrile hydrolysis rate. At a temperature of 140 degrees C and with only 0.5 mol % [RuH(2)(PPh(3))(4)] a 60 % nitrile conversion is already reached within 2 h. Initially the terminal amide is the sole product, which is gradually converted into N-hexylpentanamide. The reaction has a high initial rate, however, for higher conversions a strong decrease in hydrolysis rate is observed. This is ascribed to product inhibition, which results from the equilibrium nature of the reaction.