Lattice model calculations of interactions between proteins and surface grafted polymers with tethered affinity ligands

Lattice-model calculations of the energies of surface director-configurations are presented. These configurations mediate between the homeotropic surface conditions and the bulk fingerprint texture of cholesteric layers. Their energy determines the asymptotic behaviour of the cholesteric-nematic threshold field in the limit of thick layers. The dependence of their energies on the elastic constant ratios could be brought into a simple scaling form. This form is in agreement with existing and newly presented measurements.

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Surface-Grafted Polymers from Electropolymerized Polythiophene RAFT Agent

Macromolecules ◽

10.1021/ma102065u ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 966-975 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Carlos D. Grande ◽

Maria Celeste Tria ◽

Guoqian Jiang ◽

Ramakrishna Ponnapati ◽

Rigoberto Advincula

Keyword(s):

Grafted Polymers ◽

Raft Agent ◽

Surface Grafted Polymers

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Preparation of Homopolymer, Block Copolymer, and Patterned Brushes Bearing Thiophene and Acetylene Groups Using Microliter Volumes of Reaction Mixtures

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13244458 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (24) ◽

pp. 4458

Author(s):

Joanna Smenda ◽

Karol Wolski ◽

Kamila Chajec ◽

Szczepan Zapotoczny

Keyword(s):

Block Copolymer ◽

Polymer Brushes ◽

Scaling Up ◽

High Energy ◽

Grafted Polymers ◽

Metal Free ◽

Micro Sensor ◽

Patterned Films ◽

Surface Grafted Polymers ◽

Complex Polymer

The synthesis of surface-grafted polymers with variable functionality requires the careful selection of polymerization methods that also enable spatially controlled grafting, which is crucial for the fabrication of, e.g., nano (micro) sensor or nanoelectronic devices. The development of versatile, simple, economical, and eco-friendly synthetic strategies is important for scaling up the production of such polymer brushes. We have recently shown that poly (3-methylthienyl methacrylate) (PMTM) and poly (3-trimethylsilyl-2-propynyl methacrylate) (PTPM) brushes with pendant thiophene and acetylene groups, respectively, could be used for the production of ladder-like conjugated brushes that are potentially useful in the mentioned applications. However, the previously developed syntheses of such brushes required the use of high volumes of reagents, elevated temperature, or high energy UV-B light. Therefore, we present here visible light-promoted metal-free surface-initiated ATRP (metal-free SI-ATRP) that allows the economical synthesis of PMTM and PTPM brushes utilizing only microliter volumes of reaction mixtures. The versatility of this approach was shown by the formation of homopolymers but also the block copolymer conjugated brushes (PMTM and PTPM blocks in both sequences) and patterned films using TEM grids serving as photomasks. A simple reaction setup with only a monomer, solvent, commercially available organic photocatalyst, and initiator decorated substrate makes the synthesis of these complex polymer structures achievable for non-experts and ready for scaling up.

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