Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is one of the most commonly employed techniques for controlled radical polymerization. ATRP has great potential for the development of new materials due to the ability to control molecular weight and polymer architecture. To fully utilize the potential of ATRP as polymerization technique, the mechanism and the dynamics of the ATRP equilibrium must be well understood. In this thesis, various aspects of the ATRP process are explored through both laboratory experiments and computer modeling. Solvent effects, the limit of control and the use of iron as the mediator have been investigated. It was shown for copper mediated ATRP that the redox properties of the mediator and the polymerization properties were significantly affected by the solvent. As expected, the apparent rate constant (kpapp) increased with increasing activity of the mediator, but an upper limit was reached, where after kpapp was practically independent of the mediator potential. The degree of control deteriorated as the limit was approached. In the simulations, which were based on the thermodynamic properties of the ATRP equilibrium, the same trend of increasing kpapp with increasing mediator activity was seen and a maximum was also reached. The simulation results could be used to describe the limit of control. The maximum equilibrium constant for controlled ATRP was correlated to the propagation rate constant, which enables the design of controlled ATRP systems. Using iron compounds instead of copper compounds as mediators in ATRP is attractive from environmental aspects. Two systems with iron were investigated. Firstly, iron/EDTA was investigated as mediator as its redox properties are within a suitable range for controlled ATRP. The polymerization of styrene was heterogeneous, where the rate limiting step is the adsorption of the dormant species to the mediator surface. The polymerizations were not controlled and it is possible that they had some cationic character. In the second iron system, the intention was to investigate how different ligands affect the properties of an ATRP system with iron. Due to competitive coordination of the solvent, DMF, the redox and polymeri­zation properties were not significantly affected by the ligands. The differences between normal and reverse ATRP of MMA, such as the degree of control, were the result of different FeIII speciation in the two systems. / QC 20110406

The advent of numerous tools, ease of techniques, and concepts related to nanotechnology, in combination with functionalization via simple chemistry has made gold important for various biomedical applications. In this dissertation, the development and characterization of planar gold surfaces with responsive hydrogel patterns for rapid point of care sensing and the functionalization of gold nanoparticles for drug delivery are highlighted. Biomedical micro- and nanoscale devices that are spatially functionalized with intelligent hydrogels are typically fabricated using conventional UV-lithography. Herein, precise 3-D hydrogel patterns made up of temperature responsive crosslinked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) over gold were synthesized. The XY control of the hydrogel was achieved using microcontact printing, while thickness control was achieved using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Atomic force microscopy analysis showed that to the ATRP reaction time governed the pattern growth. The temperature dependent swelling ratio was tailored by tuning the mesh size of the hydrogel. While nanopatterns exhibited a broad lower critical solution temperature (LCST) transition, surface roughness showed a sharp LCST transition. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation showed rapid response behavior of the thin films, which makes them applicable as functional components in biomedical devices. The easy synthesis, relative biocompatibility, inertness, and easy functionalization of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have made them useful for various biomedical applications. Although ATRP can be successfully carried out over GNPs, the yield of stable solution based GNPs for biomedical applications prove to be low. As an alternative approach, a novel method of ISOlating, FUnctionalizing, and REleasing nanoparticles (ISOFURE) was proposed. Biodegradable poly(β-amino ester) hydrogels were used to synthesize ISOFURE-GNP composites. ATRP was performed inside the composite, and the final hydrogel coated GNPs were released via matrix degradation. Response analysis confirmed that the ISOFURE method led to the increased stability and yield of the hydrogel coated ISOFURE-GNPs. The ISOFURE protocol was also utilized in functionalizing GNPs with enzyme catalase in the absence of a stabilizing reagent. Biotin-streptavidin affinity was used as the bioconjugation method. Activity analysis of the conjugated enzyme showed that the ISOFURE-GNPs showed enhanced biomolecular loading relative to solution based stabilizing reagent passivated GNPs.

The use of the radioisotope 14C in polymer chemistry has been reviewed, showing how it has been used to investigate the mechanistic aspects of free radical polymerizations, and the use of polymers in other scientific disciplines such as environmental, physical, chemical and medical sciences. An overview of the application of fluorescent spectroscopy to polymer chemistry is also reported. It covers the fundamentals of fluorescence chemistry, its application and the potential problems of the use of fluorescent labels in polymer chemistry. The application of radioisotopes to atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) to investigate the fate of initiators used in the ATRP of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (2- HPMA) is also reported. By using 14C radiolabelled initiators, radio thin layer chromatography (Radio TLC) and the liquid scintillation counting of fractions, collected from gel permeation chromatography (GPC), the fate of the initiating species where monitored during the polymerization of samples of 14C poly(2-HPMA), with degrees of polymerization of 10, 25 and 50 was assessed. GPC and Radio TLC, data showed that there was an under-utilisation of the initiator, 16% clearly observable at high monomer conversion (>97%), which could result in the initiation of new chains at monomer conversions of >90% and as late as 300 minutes after the polymerisation had started. These results contradict ATRP theory which states all initiator is consumed immediately at the commencement of the polymerization. 14C poly(2-HPMA) was also used to determine the efficiencies of the polymer purification methods, flash chromatography and precipitation. Although repeated precipitation increased fractionation, it was shown to be superior to flash chromatography in removing residual unreacted or terminated initiator. Finally, the possible effects of fluorescent labels on adsorption of low molecular weight 14C poly(DEAEMA) onto real surfaces (filter paper, photo graphic paper and hair) from aqueous solutions at pH=2 were investigated. Three low molecular weight samples of 14C poly(DEAEMA) were prepared by ATRP using 14C labelled initiators synthesized from alcohols of increasing hydrophobicity i.e. methyl, benzyl and 9-hydroxyfluorene (fluorescent label). The levels of adsorption were determined using phosphor imaging, oxidation of organic samples and liquid scintillation counting. Results indicated that differences in the chemistry of the polymer end groups can affect adsorption of the 14C poly(DEAEMA) and polymer assembly at the air/water interface. There was greater adsorption of polymers with a fluorescent end group. The increasing deposition was attributed to the increasing hydrophobicity of the polymer end group. Moreover, the controlled placement of one fluorescent label per polymer chain can influence the polymer’s properties, prompting the question, is the use of fluorescent groups to assess polymer behaviour and properties viable?

In the present thesis, we propose a modification of silicone surfaces using the controlled deposition of amphiphilic block copolymers from aqueous colloidal dispersions. The surface modifiers are based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) as the hydrophobic part, in order to allow a good compatibility with PDMS artefacts, and poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMMA) as the hydrophilic block, since this polymer has demonstrated good biocompatibility and low cell attachment. The hydroxyl groups present on PGMMA offer the possibility of further surface functionalization. We have demonstrated the convenience of preparing well-defined amphiphilic block copolymers of PDMS and PGMMA (which we refer to as Sil-GMMA polymers) via atom transfer radical polymerization using a protection/deprotection route (i.e. the silylation of GMMA alcohols groups). Depending on the ratio between hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks, Sil-GMMA copolymers can self-assemble into micellar and other colloidal structures. Diffusion ordered nuclear magnetic resonance experiments have shown that those micelles did not interact with albumin, suggesting a “stealth” behaviour. Once a library of Sil-GMMA polymers with various block ratio was prepared, the adsorption of Sil-GMMA colloidal dispersions in water/ethanol on PDMS surfaces by simple physisorption was studied. As expected, high PDMS content favoured Sil-GMMA adsorption on silicone surfaces. The presence of our surface modifiers on silicone surfaces was confirmed by a decrease in water contact angle and spectroscopy techniques. We have shown that the surface coatings were stable upon storage in water. Additionally, fibrinogen adsorption was decreased by Sil-GMMA adsorption while albumin adsorption appeared to increase. The preparation of surfaces repellent to fibrinogen and interacting with a “passivating” protein such as albumin is promising. At the same time, this thesis also reports preliminary investigations on the use of enzymes in order to incorporate new functionality to GMMA containing polymers. Although enzymatic activity was observed when using PGMMA instead of glycerol with two different enzymes (glycerol kinase and glycerol dehydrogenase), PGMMA conversions were always low (< 2%).

The past few years have seen a rapid expansion in interest in the characterization of the entire complement of proteins, or proteome. Micro total analysis systems (μTAS) are an emerging promising method, offering rapid, sensitive and low sample consumption separations. I have demonstrated microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) devices made of CaF2. New methods have been developed for micromachining enclosed capillaries in CaF2. CE analysis of fluorescently labeled amino acids was used to illustrate bioanalytical applications of these microdevices. Initial on-chip infrared spectroscopy results for qualitative analyte identification were achieved in microfluidic CaF2 channels. I have also shown the evaluation of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and thermoset polyester (TPE) microchips for use in protein profiling. To improve separation efficiency and reduce protein adsorption, dynamic coating and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafting using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) have been used in PMMA microdevices. Proteins, peptides and protein digests have been separated electrophoretically in these PMMA microchips. My results demonstrate that PMMA microdevices should be well suited as microfluidic systems for high performance separations of complex biological mixtures. In-channel ATRP has been developed for the surface modification of TPE microdevices. Characterization indicates that PEG-modified microchannels have much lower and more pH-stable electroosmotic flow, more hydrophilic surfaces and reduced nonspecific protein adsorption. CE of amino acid and peptide mixtures in these PEG-modified TPE microchips had good reproducibility. Phosducin-like protein and phosphorylated phosducin-like protein were also separated to measure the phosphorylation efficiency. My results show that PEG-grafted TPE microchips have broad potential application in biomolecular analysis. Cancer marker analysis is important for medical research and applications. I report a method that can covalently attach appropriately oriented antibodies of interest on monolith surfaces. To reduce nonspecific adsorption, protein solutions were used to effectively block the monolith surface. Selective preconcentration and elution of human chorionic gonadotropin have been performed in my affinity columns, demonstrating that this type of system should have promising applications in cancer marker detection.

No description available.

The purpose of this work was the synthesis of functional amphiphilic gradient copolymers by means of controlled radical polymerizations, more precisely Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization. Two different monomer combinations, tert- and n-butyl methacrylate and tert-butyl and benzyl methacrylate, were copolymerized. In a first step seven different linear statistical copolymers were synthesized by means of batch polymerization. They were used as comparative material and the analysis of the reaction kinetic yielded the effective rate constants and the copolymerization parameters of the monomers in the particular monomer systems. Furthermore required for gradient polymer syntheses AB-di-block copolymers were synthesized as a second kind of comparative material. With the results of the kinetic analysis the monomer addition programs for the semibatch polymerizations were calculated to prepare gradient copolymers. Four different gradient copolymers with different compositions of tBMA and nBMA (ftBMA= 0.5, 0.65, 0.75, 0.85) and one gradient copolymer of tBMA and BzMA (ftBMA= 0.5) were synthesized. All semibatch reactions proceeded controlled, i. e. with mostly suppressed termination reactions. The compositions of the resulting copolymers exhibited ''double-gradients''. The point of change of the compositions were located at 16%, respectively 11% of conversion. The effective compositional gradients φ = dF1/dp were φ = 0.53, 0.46, 0.28, 0.15 and 0.43. A systematic correlation between the thermal behavior of the gradient copolymers and their composition was not found, as opposed to the statistical and the di-block copolymers. Semibatch synthesis with online infrared-spectroscopy observation to control the monomer feed during the synthesis were used for the polymerization of gradient copolymers. It was not possible to calculate the change of compositions of the polymers because it was not known how much monomer was injected at a certain time of the polymerization. A second problem was that the experimental set-up was not gas-tight. Hence, oxygen led to termination reactions. Three different kinds of hydrolysis were investigated for the cleavage of the tert-butyl groups on the polymer chains. The obtained gradient copolymers were hydrolyzed with methanesulfonic acid to obtain the intended amphiphilic polymer chains. All reactions proceeded with quantitative conversion. Hence, functional amphiphilic copolymers were obtained.

No description available.

<p>This work focused on grafting water-soluble polymers with well-controlled properties such as tuneable polymer chain length and high graft density to improve the biocompatibility of polymer surfaces via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (s-ATRP); and on gaining improved fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and factors (e.g., graft chain length and surface density of monomer units) in protein resistance of the water-soluble grafts.</p><p>Protein-resistant polyurethane (PU) surfaces were prepared by grafting watersoluble polymers including poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) (poly(OEGMA)) and poly(l-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (poly(MPC)) via s-ATRP. A typical three-step procedure was used in the ATRP grafting. First, the substrate surface was treated in an oxygen plasma and reactive sites (-OH and -OOH) were formed upon exposure to air. Second, the substrate surface was immersed in 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BffiB)-toluene solution to form a layer of ATRP initiator. Finally, target polymer was grafted from the initiator-immobilized surface by s-ATRP with Cu(I)Br/2bpy complex as catalyst. The graft chain length was adjusted by varying the molar ratio of monomer to sacrificial initiator in solution. The modified PU surfaces were characterized by water contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).</p><p>Protein adsorption experiments were carried out to evaluate the protein resistance of the surfaces. Adsorption from single and binary protein solutions as well as from plasma decreased significantly after poly(OEGMA) grafting, and decreased with increasing poly(OEGMA) main chain length. Fibrinogen (Fg) adsorption on the most resistant surfaces (chain length 200 units) was in the range of 3-33 ng/cm^2, representing a reduction of more than 96% compared to the control surfaces.</p><p>OEGMA monomers with three different molecular weights (MW 300, 475, 1100 g/mol) were used to achieve different side chain lengths of poly(OEGMA). Fibrinogen (Fg) and lysozyme (Lys) were used as model proteins in adsorption experiments. The effects of side chain length as well as main chain length were then investigated. It was found that adsorption to the poly(OEGMA)-grafted PU (PU/PO) surfaces was protein size dependent. Resistance was greater for the larger protein. For grafts of a given side chain length, the adsorption of both proteins decreased with increasing polymer main chain length. For a given main chain length, the adsorption of Fg, the larger protein, was independent of side chain length. Surprisingly, however, Lys (the smaller protein) adsorption increased with increasing side chain length. A reasonable explanation is that graft main chain density decreased as monomer size and footprint on the surface increased. Protein size-based discrimination suggests that the chain density was lower than required to form layers in the "brush" regime in which protein size is expected to have little effect on protein adsorption.</p><p>In order to achieve high surface densities of ethylene oxide (EO) units, we used a sequential double grafting approach whereby the surface was grafted first with poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (HEMA) by s-ATRP. OEGMA grafts were then grown from the hydroxyl groups on HEMA chains by a second ATRP. The effect of EO density on protein-resistant properties was then investigated. Protein adsorption on the sequentiallygrafted poly(HEMA)-poly(OEGMA) surfaces (PU/PH/PO) was not only significantly lower than on the unmodified PU as expected, but also much lower than on the PU/PO surfaces with the same poly(OEGMA) chain length. Moreover, protein adsorption decreased with increasing EO density for these grafts. On the PU/PH/PO surface with a poly(OEGMA) chain length of 100, the adsorption of Ls and Fg were reduced by ~98% and >99%, respectively, compared to the unmodified PU. Binary protein adsorption experiments showed that suppression of protein adsorption on the PU/PH/PO surfaces was essentially independent of protein size. The double-grafted OEG layers resisted both proteins equally.</p><p>The general applicability of this approach which combines oxygen plasma treatment and ATRP grafting was also studied. Various kinds of polymers such as PU, silicone hydrogel, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were chosen as substrates. Poly(MPC) grafts with different chain lengths were achieved by the three-step ATRPgrafting procedure. It was found that protein adsorption levels on the poly(MPC) grafts were significantly lower than on the respective unmodified surfaces. Protein adsorption decreased with increasing poly(MPC) chain length. Among the surfaces investigated, PU/MPC showed the highest protein resistance for a given chain length.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.