Surface Polydiacetylene Arrays as Substrates for Thiol-ene Click Reactions

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a method to generate highly-accessible surface reactive sites on hydrogels. These surface sites can participate in thiol-ene click reactions, a broadly used class of reaction chemistry for biofunctionalization. Typically, reactive sites are distributed throughout hydrogels. The Purdue researchers' method creates a high density of reactive sites on the surface, sites which are more readily accessible. The researchers' method involves contacting a polymeric surface material with thiol-functionalized molecules to promote click reactions. The thiol-functionalized molecules can be cell adhesion molecules, allowing the support to be used as an engineered tissue.

Technology Validation: The Purdue researchers' hydrogels have up to 1 reactive site per square nanometer of surface area, whereas typical hydrogels have functionalization densities of 1 reactive site per 1600 cubic nanometer of volume.

Advantages:

High surface density of reactive sites

Applications:

Engineered tissues

TRL: 3

Intellectual Property:

Keywords: hydrogels, surface reactive sites, thiol-ene click reactions, biofunctionalization, high density reactive sites, polymeric surface material, thiol-functionalized molecules, cell adhesion molecules, engineered tissue, functionalization density, Biofunctionalization, Cell Culturing, Chemistry and Chemical Analysis, Click Reaction, Engineered Tissues, Hydrogel, Reactive Sites, Thiol