Potentially biocompatible polyacrylamides derived by the Ugi four-component reaction

Abstract A novel class of acrylamide monomers was synthesized using the Ugi four-component reaction. The application of acrylic acid and a variety of amines, aldehydes, and isocyanides as reactants led to a set of diversely substituted acrylamides in a highly straightforward one-pot procedure. These acrylamides were subjected to free radical polymerization yielding amorphous polymers with various designable side-chains. Subsequently, the synthesized polyacrylamides were tested for their biological activity by a modified Japanese Industrial Standard Z 2801:2000 protocol. All tested polymers showed high tolerance toward Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fluorescens as well as Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis bacteria, thus suggesting these “easy to tune” polymers for applications requiring biocompatibility.