| abstract |
New hydrophilic latex particles (A) consist of homo- or co-polymers of monomers sparingly soluble in water and are made by emulsion polymerisation in presence of any emulsifier, stabiliser or wetting agent. Pref.(A) are derived from an epoxyalkylene cpd., glycidyl ester or glycidyl ether, and are opt. crosslinked with a polyfunctional cpd. The terminal epoxy gps. are pref. converted to hydroxy, prim. or sec. amino, mercapto, formyl or carboxy. The particles are esp. monodisperse spheres of nearly uniform diam. 0.15-1.5 micron. They can be labelled with a dye or fluorescent cpd. incorporated by polymerisation. (A) are useful as carriers for biologically or immunologically active substances (B) to form diagnostic reagents. Suitable (B) are peptides, proteins, enzymes, hormones, vitamins, antigens, antibodies or microorganisms, specifically thyroxin or human-thyreotropin antibodies. (A) bind (B) covalently (not just by adsorption) without affecting their biological activity, and do not bond nonspecifically to other serum proteins. No surfactants, which can alter protein structures, are used in the prodn., suspensions of (A) are not broken during centrifuging and the particles are easily redispersed. |