Maleimide

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Maleimide is a chemical compound with the formula H2C2(CO)2NH (see diagram). This unsaturated imide is an important building block in organic synthesis. The name is a contraction of maleic acid and imide, the -C(O)NHC(O)- functional group. Maleimides are also a class of derivatives of the parent maleimide where the NH group is replaced with alkyl or aryl groups such as a methyl or phenyl, respectively. The substituent can also be a small molecule (such as biotin, a fluorescent dye, an oligosaccharide, or a nucleic acid), a reactive group, or a synthetic polymer such as polyethylene glycol. Human hemoglobin chemically modified with maleimide-polyethylene glycol is a blood substitute called MP4. Many analogues of maleimide are prepared by treating maleic anhydride with amines followed by dehydration. A defining feature of the reactivity of maleimides is their susceptibility to additions across the double bond either by Michael additions or via Diels-Alder reactions. In this context, bismaleimides, compounds with two maleimide groups connected by the nitrogen atoms via a linker, are used as crosslinking reagents in thermoset polymer chemistry. Compounds containing a maleimide group linked with another reactive group, such as an activated N-hydroxysuccinimide ester, are called maleimide heterobifunctional reagents .