| This dissertation describes the production of a new class of carbohydrate-substituted polymers via an aqueous ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and the use of these materials in studies of the multivalent binding interactions which mediate cell agglutination. To produce synthetic polyvalent carbohydrates, we investigated a ruthenium-catalyzed ROMP reaction. Derivatives of 7-oxabicyclo(2.2.1) hept-5-ene bearing pendant saccharide residues were polymerized using ruthenium trichloride in water to produce water-soluble, high molecular weight polymers. The ROMP of carbohydrate-bearing monomers initiated by a defined ruthenium benzylidene catalyst was also evaluated, and emulsion reaction conditions were established under which defined molecular weight oligomers were produced. The ROMP neoglycopolymers were used in a series of experiments designed to investigate the hypothesis that multivalent interactions can show greater affinity and specificity than their monovalent counterparts. In these studies, the ability of the polymers to act as multivalent ligands for a glucose/mannose-binding protein, concanavalin A, was assessed using a hemagglutination inhibition assay. Glucose- and mannose-presenting polymers were found to prevent concanavalin A-mediated hemagglutination at molar saccharide concentrations 1000 to 50,000-fold lower than that required of monovalent methyl-... |
