Poly(ethylene oxide) Layers Grafted to Dopamine-melanin Anchoring Layer: Stability and Resistance to Protein Adsorption

Abstract

In this study, we propose substrate-independent modification for creating a protein-repellent surface based on dopamine-melanin anchoring layer used for subsequent binding of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) from melt. We verified that the dopamine-melanin layer can be formed on literally any substrate and could serve as the anchoring layer for subsequent grafting of PEO chains. Grafting of PEO from melt in a temperature range 70-110 °C produces densely packed PEO layers showing exceptionally low protein adsorption when exposed to the whole blood serum or plasma. The PEO layers prepared from melt at 110 °C retained the protein repellent properties for as long as 10 days after their exposure to physiological-like conditions. The PEO-dopamine-melanin modification represents a simple and universal surface modification method for the preparation of protein repellent surfaces that could serve as a nonfouling background in various applications, such as optical biosensors and tissue engineering.

Polymer brushes based on PLLA-b-PEO colloids for the preparation of protein resistant PLA surfaces

“…The representative spectrum of the PLLAcontaining films is dominated by bands at 2997, 2947, and butions have been assigned to the PEO chains in helical conformation with a predominant perpendicular orientation with respect to the surface as in the case of the dense PEO brushes end-tethered directly to gold 39 or to a PDA anchor layer. 7,25 Thus the presence of these bands proves the brush structure of the PEO blocks in the top layer of the PLLA-b-PEO films in our study. Notably, the spectral contributions of PEO rise with increasing molecular weight of the PEO block.…”

“…The mass of the adsorbed protein components decreased to less than 30 ng cm −2 regardless of the length of the PEO chain. Notably, such a low level of non-specifically adsorbed protein deposits approaches the levels reported for ultra-low and low-fouling PEO polymer brush systems prepared by grafting from a reactive melt 7,25,45 and polymer brushes synthesized by surface initiated controlled atom transfer radical polymerizations. 30 It is evident that the PEO blocks in aqueous solutions can be swollen and expanded and play an important role in significant reduction of fouling from complex protein solutions tested on the PLLA-b-PEO surfaces.…”

Functionalizable low-fouling coatings for label-free biosensing in complex biological media: advances and applications

“…Stable antifouling coatings composed of linear PEG chains have been prepared by the chemical binding of PEG with a functional terminal group to reactive groups present on a substrate surface ( Fig. 2) [118]. Reactive ω-trichloro silane-PEG (PEGOSiCl 3 ) [119] and ω-mercapto-PEG (PEG-SH) [40,[120][121][122][123] have been grafted via covalent bonds to silicon and gold surfaces, respectively.…”

“…Pop-Georgievski et al coated gold and several other substrates with ultrathin layers of poly(dopamine) and grafted ω-amino-PEG from a melt to these layers, obtaining a grafting density much higher than that obtained by grafting the polymer from solutions (even on non-reactive substrates) [118]. The poly(dopamine) interlayer adhered strongly to a variety of inert substrates and contained multiple functional groups available for grafting [118,126].…”

“…The poly(dopamine) interlayer adhered strongly to a variety of inert substrates and contained multiple functional groups available for grafting [118,126]. The melt grafting of PEG ensured no excluded volume interactions, maximum grafting density, and substantially higher thickness.…”