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Updated: May 1, 2026

Determination of the Gas-phase Acidities of Oligopeptides
Published on: June 24, 2013
Comparison of pH-sensitive degradability of maleic acid amide derivatives
Sunyoung Kang1, Youngeun Kim1, Youngjun Song1
1Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-747, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
We synthesized five maleic acid amide derivatives (maleic, citraconic, cis-aconitic, 2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic, 1-methyl-2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide), and compared their degradability for the future development of pH-sensitive biomaterials with tailored kinetics of the release of drugs, the change of charge density, and the degradation of scaffolds. The degradation kinetics was highly dependent upon the substituents on the cis-double bond. Among the maleic acid amide derivatives, 2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide with one carboxyethyl and one hydrogen substituent showed appropriate degradability at weakly acidic pH, and the additional carboxyl group can be used as a pH-sensitive linker.
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