title: Chemical modification of hyaluronic acid by carbodiimides.
abstract: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear polysaccharide with repeating disaccharide units of glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine and is found in the extracellular matrix of connective tissues. Reaction of high molecular weight sodium hyaluronate (NaHA, MW approximately 2 x 10(6] with EDC at pH 4.75, either in the presence or absence of a primary diamine, gave the N-acylurea and O-acylisourea as NaHA-carbodiimide adducts. None of the expected intermolecular coupling with the amine component was observed. On the basis of this new observation, this method for chemical modification of HA was used in conjunction with new synthetic carbodiimides to prepare HA derivatives bearing lipophilic, aromatic, cross-linked, and tethered functional groups. The degree of conversion to NaHA-acylurea products appears to depend upon both the characteristics of various carbodiimides and the conformational structure of NaHA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-3400.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Swann
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Prestwich
mesh_terms: D002234:Carbodiimides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D002234:Carbodiimides; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid