Rational Chemical Engineering in Natural Protein Derived Functional Interface

Catalyst-free and readily chemically reactive functional coatings that have immense prospects in various relevant applications are unprecedentedly synthesized directly using naturally existing bovine serum albumin (BSA), where facile Michael addition reaction between amine and acrylate groups provided a simple basis for the covalent integration of deposited BSA and rendered residual chemical reactivity to the protein derived coating. Such chemically reactive BSA based coating was further extended for tailoring various water wettability, including biomimicked superhydrophobicity through appropriate chemical optimizations, and the chemically modulated water wettability was rationally utilized for controlling the rate of release of selected drugs (aspirin and tetracycline) from days to months. The released drug (tetracycline) from the superhydrophobic cotton remained highly bioactive and prevented the proliferation of bacteria (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus). Further, the synthesized BSA based superhydrophobic coating is capable of withstanding various physical and chemical challenges. This simple and green approach of synthesizing stable BSA based functional coating has potential in addressing various healthcare and environment related challenges.