Amino Acid-Based Zwitterionic Poly(serine methacrylate) as an Antifouling Material

A serine-based zwitterionic poly(serine methacrylate) (pSerMA) was developed in this work to be used as a potential antifouling material. A surface-initiated photoiniferter-mediated polymerization (SI-PIMP) method was used to graft polymer brushes on gold surfaces. The pSerMA-grafted samples with different polymer film thicknesses were readily prepared by varying the UV-irradiation time. With the optimal film thickness, the adsorptions from bovine serum albumin, human serum, and human plasma onto the pSerMA-grafted surfaces, as evaluated by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor, were 1.8, 9.2, and 12.9 ng/cm(2), respectively, comparable to the traditional antifouling material such as poly(ethylene glycol). The pSerMA-grafted surfaces also strongly resisted adhesion from bovine aortic endothelial cells. This is the first work to develop an amino acid based zwitterionic polymer as an antifouling material, demonstrating that pSerMA is a promising alternative to the traditional ethylene glycol based antifouling materials.