Highly Active Protein Surfaces Enabled by Plant-Based Polyphenol Coatings.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Surface Chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Protein immobilization on material supports is crucial for applications in sensing, biocatalysis, and biomedical interfaces.
• Developing efficient and versatile methods for protein functionalization remains an active area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the advantages of aqueous-processed cross-linked polyphenol coatings for immobilizing active proteins on diverse materials.
• To optimize protein immobilization for enhanced activity and broader material compatibility.

Main Methods:

• Utilized aqueous-processed cross-linked polyphenol coatings for protein immobilization.
• Employed enzyme assays, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, silver staining, contact angle, solid-state 13C NMR, HPLC, and ESI-MS for characterization.
• Compared polyphenol coatings with polydopamine and other approaches.

Main Results:

• Achieved significant active protein loading (e.g., 4.8 mg·m-2 active phosphatase on polyester fabric).
• Demonstrated higher protein activity (over an order of magnitude in some cases) and broader pH/material compatibility with polyphenol coatings.
• Showcased the functionality of coatings derived from plant polyphenol extracts, even at lower purity.

Conclusions:

• Aqueous-processed cross-linked polyphenol coatings provide an effective and versatile platform for active protein immobilization.
• Optimizing functionalization for protein activity, rather than coating thickness, yields superior results.
• Polyphenol coatings offer advantages over polydopamine, particularly due to the absence of amine groups, leading to improved active biofunctional surfaces.