I-Corps: Monodisperse Polyethylene Glycol Synthesis Technologies

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes the commercial availability of affordable monodisperse short and long polyethylene glycols (PEGs). Areas that will benefit from their commercialization include organic synthesis, bioconjugation, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry and more. Currently, monodisperse short PEGs can be prohibitively expensive. Many scientists have to devote significant time to synthesize them or have to use less ideal alternative materials. More seriously, there is no technology to synthesize monodisperse long PEGs and scientists in the pharmaceutical industry often use impure PEGs for drug PEGylation (i.e. tagging with PEG). Commercialization of affordable monodisperse PEGs and their derivatives may transform the ways researchers and manufacturers conduct their projects. This I-Corps project explores the market potential of novel technologies that can be used to synthesize polyethylene glycols (PEG) and derivatives in monodisperse form and with much lower costs. Short PEGs are widely used as linkers in areas including organic synthesis, and pharmaceutical chemistry. Long PEGs are used for PEGylating pharmaceuticals to increase water solubility and bio-stability, and to reduce undesirable immune responses and dosing frequency. Currently monodisperse short PEGs can be synthesized via stepwise organic synthesis. However, the process requires chromatography to purify intermediates and product, which consumes large volumes of solvents and silica gel. The waste to product ratio can be over 1000 to 1. For long PEGs, they are made by random polymerization, and there is no technology to make them monodisperse. Therefore, impure PEGs are often used for drug PEGylation. To overcome the challenges in monodisperse PEG production, novel technologies based on solid phase stepwise synthesis will be developed.