Propargyl-PEG13-bromide | CAS 2055105-25-2

Propargyl-PEG13-bromide is a PEG-based alkyl bromide functionalized with a terminal alkyne, designed for click chemistry workflows where stable, water-compatible spacers are needed. As a propargylated PEG bromide, it is commonly used as an electrophile for installing the alkyne handle onto biomolecules, surfaces, or polymeric scaffolds prior to downstream Cu(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) or related alkyne click reactions. The long PEG13 chain improves solubility and reduces nonspecific interactions, making it a practical linker for preparing conjugation-ready materials and imaging or assay reagents that require controlled attachment and flexible presentation of the clickable group.

1. Surface And Interface Labeling

Propargyl-PEG13-bromide is widely used to introduce terminal alkyne functionality onto material surfaces and interface coatings, enabling subsequent azide-based click coupling for sensor fabrication and surface patterning. The PEG13 spacer helps maintain accessibility of the alkyne at the solid–liquid boundary, which is valuable when immobilizing recognition elements, fluorophores, or affinity tags onto beads, membranes, or microfabricated substrates. Researchers and materials groups often select this reagent to balance reactivity of the bromide handle with the need for low-fouling, hydrated interfacial layers that support reproducible conjugation chemistry.

2. Biomolecule Conjugation Platforms

Propargyl-PEG13-bromide supports the preparation of click-ready bioconjugation platforms where an alkyne moiety must be installed onto proteins, peptides, or other macromolecular carriers for later CuAAC assembly. The PEG13 chain provides steric spacing that can reduce crowding around the reactive site and improve conjugation uniformity when generating libraries of labeled constructs. In chemical biology and molecular imaging reagent development, this reagent is frequently used as a modular building block to generate alkyne-bearing intermediates that can be rapidly diversified by azide-functional partners, streamlining workflows for probe and reagent construction.

3. Polymer and Hydrogel Functionalization

Propargyl-PEG13-bromide is used to functionalize synthetic polymers and hydrogel matrices with terminal alkyne groups, allowing post-modification with azide-bearing crosslinkers, ligands, or reporting components. The PEG13 segment can enhance compatibility with aqueous formulations and promote homogeneous distribution of clickable sites within soft materials, which is important for reproducible downstream labeling and spatially controlled assembly. Materials scientists often rely on this reagent to create modular, click-addressable polymer systems for building multifunctional hydrogels and composite networks used in advanced research tool development.

4. Molecular Imaging Probe Assembly

Propargyl-PEG13-bromide is a practical reagent for generating alkyne-bearing intermediates used in molecular imaging and diagnostic reagent development workflows that employ azide-functional imaging moieties. The combination of a terminal alkyne and a long PEG spacer supports efficient coupling to azide partners while helping to preserve solubility and reduce nonspecific binding in complex assay environments. Probe developers commonly use Propargyl-PEG13-bromide as a handle installation step to enable rapid, modular construction of clickable imaging reagents and labeling reagents for analytical platforms.