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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Covalent Immobilization of Proteins for the Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy
Published on: August 20, 2018
Efficient covalent modification of a carbon surface: use of a silyl protecting group to form an active monolayer
Yann R Leroux1, Hui Fei, Jean-Marc Noël
1Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (Equipe MaCSE), CNRS, UMR 6226, Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, Bat 10C, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
Abstract:
A global strategy to prepare a versatile and robust reactive platform for immobilizing molecules on carbon substrates with controlled morphology and high selectivity is presented. The procedure is based on the electroreduction of a selected triisopropylsilyl (TIPS)-protected ethynyl aryldiazonium salt. It avoids the formation of multilayers and efficiently protects the functional group during the electrografting step. After TIPS deprotection, a dense reactive ethynyl aryl monolayer is obtained which presents a very low barrier to charge transfer between molecules in solution and the surface. As a test functionalization, azidomethylferrocene was coupled by "click" chemistry with the modified surface. Analysis of the redox activity highlights a surface concentration close to the maximum possible attachment considering the steric hindrance of a ferrocenyl group.
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