Patent 7790835 was granted and assigned to Nektar (pulminary therapeutics business unit) on September, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Methods for forming maleimide functionalized polymers are provided. In one such embodiment, a maleimide functionalized polymer is prepared in a method that includes a step of carrying out a reverse Diels-Alder reaction. Intermediates useful in the methods, as well as methods for preparing the intermediates, are also provided. Also provided are polymeric reagents, methods of using polymeric reagents, compounds and conjugates.