Convergent approach to boronic acid functionalized polycarbonates: Accessing new dynamic material platforms

Abstract

Polycarbonates are routinely utilized for diverse medicinal applications and are highly efficacious scaffolds for drug delivery and antimicrobial treatments. In order to provide for robust, dynamic platforms for biomedical applications, we have developed new routes for the incorporation of boronic acids into the polycarbonate backbone. These routes take advantage of straightforward postsynthesis modification of established polycarbonate backbones, enabling the preparation of a diverse array of boronic acid functionalized polycarbonates from readily accessible polycarbonates. In particular, this approach circumvents the need for de novo monomer synthesis, functional group incompatibilities, and deprotection steps that often limit other methods. This strategy has been demonstrated using a broad array of unprotected boronic acids to produce both neutral and cationic boronic acid functionalized polycarbonates.