Protein Adsorption and Coordination-Based End-Tethering of Functional Polymers on Metal–Phenolic Network Films

• Published in: Biomacromolecules Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 1421 - 1428
• Main Authors: Tardy, Blaise L, Richardson, Joseph J, Nithipipat, Vichida, Kempe, Kristian, Guo, Junling, Cho, Kwun Lun, Rahim, Md. Arifur, Ejima, Hirotaka, Caruso, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 11.03.2019
• Subjects: Adsorption; Bacterial Adhesion; Coordination Complexes - chemistry; Immunoglobulin G - chemistry; Metals - chemistry; Phenols - chemistry; Polymers - chemistry; Proteins - chemistry; Serum Albumin, Bovine - chemistry
• ISSN: 1525-7797; 1526-4602
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00006

Metal–phenolic network (MPN) coatings have generated increasing interest owing to their biologically inspired nature, facile fabrication, and near-universal adherence, especially for biomedical applications. However, a key issue in biomedicine is protein fouling, and the adsorption of proteins on tannic acid-based MPNs remains to be comprehensively studied. Herein, we investigate the interaction of specific biomedically relevant proteins in solution (e.g., bovine serum albumin (BSA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), fibrinogen) and complex biological media (serum) using layer-by-layer-assembled tannic acid/FeIII MPN films. When FeIII was the outermost layer, galloyl-modified poly­(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (P­(EtOx)-Gal) could be grafted to the films through coordination bonds. Protein fouling and bacterial adhesion were greatly suppressed after functionalization with P­(EtOx)-Gal and the mass of adsorbed protein was reduced by 79%. Interestingly, larger proteins adsorbed more on both the MPNs and P­(EtOx)-functionalized MPNs. This study provides fundamental information on the interactions of MPNs with single proteins, mixtures of proteins as encountered in serum, and the noncovalent, coordination-based, functionalization of MPN films.