Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Feb 17.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2009 Nov 14;62(2):122–149. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2009.10.004

Table 1.

Milestones in HPMA (co)polymer research.

Year Study Publication
1973 First synthesis J. Kopeček, H. Bažilová, Poly[N-(2-Hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]. 1. Radical polymerization and copolymerization. Europ. Polym. J. 9 (1973) 7–14.
1974 Characterization of PHPMA solution properties M. Bohdanecký, H. Bažilová, J. Kopeček, Poly[N-(2-Hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]. II. Hydrodynamic properties diluted polymer solutions. Europ. Polym. J. 10 (1974) 405–410.
1974 First hydrogels J. Kopeček, H. Bažilová, Poly[N-(2-Hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]. III. Crosslinking copolymerization. Europ. Polym. J. 10 (1974) 465–470.
1976 First enzymatic release of ligand from a polymer conjugate in vitro J. Drobník, J. Kopeček, J. Labský, P. Rejmanová, J. Exner, V. Saudek, J. Kálal, Enzymatic cleavage of side-chains synthetic water-soluble polymers. Makromol. Chem. 177 (1976) 2833–2848.
1978 First HPMA modified protein V. Chytrý, A. Vrána, J. Kopeček, Synthesis and activity of a polymer which contains insulin covalently bound on a copolymer of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide and N-methacryloylglycylglycine 4-nitrophenyl ester. Makromol. Chem. 179 (1978) 329–336.
1979 First HPMA–drug conjugate B. Obereigner, M. Burešová, A. Vrána, J. Kopeček, Preparation of polymerizable derivatives of N-(4-aminobenzenesulfonyl)-N′-butylurea. J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Symp. 66 (1979) 41–52.
1981 First enzymatic release of ligand from a polymeric substrate by a polymer-modified enzyme J. Kopeček, P. Rejmanová, V. Chytrý, Polymers containing enzymatically degradable bonds 1. Chymotrypsincatalyzed hydrolysis of p-nitroanilides of phenylalanine and tyrosine attached to side-chains of copolymers of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide. Makromol. Chem. 182 (1981) 799–809.
1981 First enzymatic release of ligand from a polymer conjugate in vivo J. Kopeček, I. Cífková, P. Rejmanová, J. Strohalm, B. Obereigner, K. Ulbrich, Polymers containing enzymatically degradable bonds. 4. Preliminary experiments in vivo. Makromol. Chem. 182 (1981) 2941–2949.
1982 First degradable hydrogels K. Ulbrich, J. Strohalm, J. Kopeček, Polymers containing enzymatically degradable bonds. VI. Hydrophilic gels cleavable by chymotrypsin. Biomaterials 3 (1982) 150–154.
1985 First HPMA–drug–antibody conjugate B. Říhová, J. Kopeček, Biological Properties of targetable poly[N-(2-hydroxypropy)methacrylamide]–antibody conjugates. J. Controlled Release 2 (1985) 289–310.
1994 First combination therapy using polymer-bound drugs N.L. Krinick, Y. Sun, D. Jonyer, J.D. Spikes, R.C. Straight, J. Kopeček, A polymeric drug delivery system for the simultaneous delivery of drugs activatable by enzymes and/or light. J. Biomat. Sci. Polym. Ed. 5 (1994) 211–222.
1995 First semitelechelic HPMA S. Kamei, J. Kopeček, Prolonged blood circulation in rats of nanospheres surface-modified with semitelechelic [N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]. Pharmaceutical Res. 12 (1995) 663–668.
1999 First clinical trials P.A. Vasey, S.B. Kaye, R. Morrison, C. Twelves, P. Wilson, R. Duncan, A.H. Thomson, L.S. Murray, T.E. Hilditch, T. Murray, S. Burtles, D. Fraier, E. Frigerio, J. Cassidy, and on behalf of the Cancer Research Campaign Phase I/II Committee, Phase I clinical and pharmacokinetic study of PK1 [N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer doxorubicin]: first member of a new class of chemotherapeutic agents–drug–polymer conjugates. Clin. Cancer Res. (1999) 83–94.
1999 First ATRP polymerization M. Teodorescu, K. Matyjaszewski, Atom transfer radical polymerization of (meth)acrylamides. Macromolecules (1999) 4826–4831.
1999 First self-assembly into hybrid hydrogels C. Wang, R.J. Stewart, J. Kopeček, Hybrid hydrogels assembled from synthetic polymers and coiled-coil protein domains. Nature 397 (1999) 417–420.
2005 First RAFT polymerization C.W. Scales, Y.A. Vasilieva, A.J. Convertine, A.B. Lowe, C.L. McCormick, Direct, controlled synthesis of the nonimmunogenic, hydrophilic polymer, poly(N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide) via RAFT in aqueous media. Biomacromolecules 6 (2005) 1846–1850.
2009 First self-assembly at cell surface K. Wu, J. Liu, R.N. Johnson, J. Yang, J. Kopeček, Drug-free macromolecular therapeutics: induction of apoptosis coiled-coil mediated crosslinking of antigens at cell surface. Submitted