Water-Soluble Polymer–Ferrocene Conjugates Based on Polyamide Carriers Containing Intrachain-Type Secondary Amine Functions as Binding Sites

It is the objective of this project to synthesize polymer–ferrocene conjugates from macromolecular carriers in which the “anchoring” sites are main-chain constituents, thus contrasting with previously described conjugates featuring side-chain terminals as anchoring sites. To this end, earlier-developed polyamide carriers containing secondary amino groups in the main chain are treated with the active N-succinimidyl ester of 4-ferrocenylbutanoic acid in DMF solution. Molar feed ratios are chosen so as to favor the incorporation of a single ferrocenyl group per recurring unit. The water-soluble, microanalytically and spectroscopically characterized conjugates are of interest as antiproliferative agents in cancer research.