THIOESTER-TERMINATED WATER SOLUBLE POLYMERS AND METHOD OF MODIFYING THE N-TERMINUS OF A POLYPEPTIDE THEREWITH

摘要

The invention provides reagents and methods for conjugating a polymer specifically to the .prop.-amine of a polypeptide. The invention provides monofunctional, bifunctional, and multifunctional PEGs and related polymers having a terminal thioester moiety capable of specifically conjugating to th e .prop.-amine of a polypeptide having a cysteine or histidine residue at the N- terminus. The invention provides reactive thioester-terminated PEG polymers that have suitable reactivity with an N-terminal cysteine or histidine resid ue of a polypeptide to produce an amide bond between the PEG molecule and the polypeptide.