Alkanethiol containing glycopolymers: a tool for the detection of lectin binding

Glycopolymers are useful macromolecules with a non-carbohydrate backbone for presenting saccharides in multivalent form. Here, glycopolymers containing mannose and alkanethiol linker were synthesized through substituting preactivated poly [N-(acryloyloxy) succinimide] (pNAS) with amine-containing monomer. With the obtained glycopolymers, a glycosurface was generated on the gold surface of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) through self-assembled strategy by the use of alkanethiol functional group. Furthermore, the resulting glycosurface was used to detect the binding of mannose specific lectin concanavalin A (Con A).