Introduction of anti-fouling coatings at the surface of supramolecular elastomeric materials via post-modification of reactive supramolecular additives

Abstract

Protein repellent coatings have been extensively studied to introduce anti-fouling properties at material surfaces. Here we introduce a covalent anti-fouling coating at the surface of supramolecular ureidopyrimidinone (UPy) based materials introduced via post-modification of reactive UPy-functionalized tetrazine additives incorporated into the supramolecular polymer material. After material formulation, an antifouling coating comprised of bicyclononyne (BCN) functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) polymers was reacted. This coating was covalently attached to the surface via a highly selective electron-demand Diels-Alder cycloaddition between tetrazine and BCN. The anti-fouling properties of three different BCN-PEG polymers, mono-functional-PEG-BCN, bi-functional-PEG-BCN and star-PEG-BCN, respectively, were systematically studied. The mono-functional-PEG-BCN showed minor reduction in both protein adsorption and cell adhesion, whereas the bi-functional-PEG-BCN and the star-PEG-BCN polymer coating demonstrated complete anti-fouling performance, both towards protein adhesion as well as cell adhesion. Additionally, a bioorthogonal ligation strategy was performed in culture medium in the presence of cells showing a similar behavior for the three anti-fouling coatings, which indicates that this strategy can be applied for post-modification reactions in a complex environment.

Supramolecular Antifouling Additives for Robust and Efficient Functionalization of Elastomeric Materials: Molecular Design Matters

“…In Pape et al no obvious difference was found between a bivalent PEG 10k diUPy and a monovalent PEG 5k diUPy in spin‐coated 2D films. In a postmodification approach however, in which molecular design has been shown to be important for functionalization efficiency, we have reported that bivalent PEG additives outperformed monovalent PEG in terms of antifouling properties when the additives were reacted to the surface using a click reaction …”

Modulation of Living Cell Behavior with Ultra‐Low Fouling Polymer Brush Interfaces

“…Several recent studies dealing with ultra‐low fouling surface–cell interactions focused on a specific application without aiming to generalize the observed surface–cell effects 4,18–21. Some complex surface–cell relationships have been recently reported—the ultra‐low fouling surface wettability (or hydrophilicity),22,23 hydration and layer thickness,24–26 zwitterionization,27 and charge, and the presence of various functional groups28 have been shown to influence cellular behavior. The differentiation of stem cells was investigated in dependence on surface hydrophilicity and zwitterionization of the coating 29.…”

QCM‐D assay for quantifying the swelling, biodegradation, and protein adsorption of intelligent nanogels

“…Further, by infusing a series of protein samples across a range of concentrations, one can obtain an adsorption isotherm and approximate a dissociation constant. Therefore, QCM is a useful tool for materials development applications (e.g., antifouling membranes, biomaterial coatings,) and a sensitive detecting element for biosensing applications (e.g., medical diagnostics).…”