Spatially controlled photochemical peptide and polymer conjugation on biosurfaces

An efficient phototriggered Diels-Alder conjugation is utilized to graft in an effective and straightforward approach poly(trifluoro ethyl methacrylate) (Mn = 3700 Da, Đ = 1.27) and a model peptide (GIGKFLHS) onto thin hyaluronan films and cellulose surfaces. The surfaces were functionalized with an o-quinodimethane moiety - capable of releasing a caged diene - via carbodiimide mediated coupling. The o-quinodimethane group is employed as a photoactive linker to tether predefined peptide/polymer strands in a spatially controlled manner onto the biosurface by photoenol ligation. An in-depth characterization employing XPS, ToF-SIMS, SPR, ellipsometry, and AFM was conducted to evidence the effectiveness of the presented approach.