Thin, highly crosslinked polymer layer synthesized via photoinitiated graft copolymerization on a self‐assembled‐monolayer‐coated gold surface

Abstract

A thin, highly crosslinked layer was grafted onto an alkyl thiol self-assembled-monolayer (SAM)-coated gold surface with N,NЈ-methylene bisacrylamide (MBAA), a widely used crosslinker with two polymerizable groups, as the monomer. Surface-initiated photografting copolymerization was achieved through the immobilization of the hydrogen-abstraction photoinitiator benzophenone on the hydrophobic alkyl surface via physical adsorption and subsequent UV irradiation in the presence of an MBAA solution. The growth of the grafted poly-MBAA layers seemed to produce dendritic structures with low surface coverage. At a higher monomer concentration (15 g/L of water), full coverage of the gold surface with a thin layer was obtained and proved by scanning force microscopy and contact-angle measurements. The evaluation of the gold, gold-SAM, and gold-SAM/grafted poly-MBAA layers with a surface plasmon resonance sensor system revealed that the photografted, thin, highly crosslinked polyacrylamide layers had a very low affinity toward the adsorption of protein. Therefore, this provides a very promising approach to tailoring materials for sensors and other applications.

The rational development of molecularly imprinted polymer-based sensors for protein detection

“…213 They showed that highly cross-linked layers of polyacrylamide grafted on sensors, strongly reduces the adsorption of protein (BSA) compared to bare sensor surfaces, making this material very promising for the development of sensors for protein detection.…”

Molecular imprinting science and technology: a survey of the literature for the years 2004-2011

“…The development of alternatives to the synthesis of traditional monolithic polymers has been driven by both practical considerations, for example, ease of scale‐up, requirements for integration with other technologies, such as sensors, and for performance issues, for example, mass transfer or flow properties. Methods for preparation of discrete MIP particles, composites and molecularly imprinted polymer surfaces and fibers are areas that have been gaining in prominence over recent years and now constitute a significant portion of the original literature published in the molecular imprinting field …”

Synthesis and Performance of PP Microfiltration Membranes Grafted with Polymer Layers of Different Structure

“…The water flux ratio of N,N ′ ‐ MBAA grafted membranes is shown in Figure 5c. Previously, we had investigated the process of N,N ′ ‐ MBAA photografting on a flat surface; it had formed a thin layer with network‐like structure and had essentially no protein adsorption 32. The high flux ratio at different pressures indicates that the membranes grafted with N,N ′ ‐ MBAA only still maintained the pore morphology of unmodified PP.…”

“…In our previous study, we have developed two methods to realize the photoinitiated SIP process by fixation of the photo‐initiator through “adsorption” or “entrapping” on the hydrophobic membrane surface 31, 32. Entrapping method is to fix the initiator on membrane subsurface by the swelling effect.…”