Thiol-reactive (co)polymer scaffolds comprising organic arsenical acrylamidesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7cc03880a

Novel, well-defined organic arsenical homopolymers ( = 1.10-1.40) have been synthesised via RAFT polymerisation. Copolymerisation of the As-functional monomer with dimethylacrylamide yielded non-toxic polymer scaffolds ( 1.10) that could be manipulated in response to pH and undergo sequential reduction and substitution in the presence of thiols including cysteine and glutathione. Well-defined polymeric arsenicals are synthesised for the first time and exploited as responsive and reactive polymer scaffolds.