Synthesis of tripodal catecholates and their immobilization on zinc oxide nanoparticles.

A common approach to generate tailored materials and nanoparticles (NPs) is the formation of molecular monolayers by chemisorption of bifunctional anchor molecules. This approach depends critically on the choice of a suitable anchor group. Recently, bifunctional catecholates, inspired by mussel-adhesive proteins (MAPs) and bacterial siderophores, have received considerable interest as anchor groups for biomedically relevant metal surfaces and nanoparticles. We report here the synthesis of new tripodal catecholates as multivalent anchor molecules for immobilization on metal surfaces and nanoparticles. The tripodal catecholates have been conjugated to various effector molecules such as PEG, a sulfobetaine and an adamantyl group. The potential of these conjugates has been demonstrated with the immobilization of tripodal catecholates on ZnO NPs. The results confirmed a high loading of tripodal PEG-catecholates on the particles and the formation of stable PEG layers in aqueous solution.

Biomimetic PEG-catecholates for stabile antifouling coatings on metal surfaces: applications on TiO2 and stainless steel.

Trimeric catecholates have been designed for the stable immobilization of effector molecules on metal surfaces. The design of these catecholates followed a biomimetic approach and was inspired by natural multivalent metal binders, such as mussel adhesion proteins (MAPs) and siderophores. Three catecholates have been conjugated to central scaffolds based on adamantyl or trisalkylmethyl core structures. The resulting triscatecholates have been immobilized on TiO2 and stainless steel. In a proof of concept study we have demonstrated the high stability of the resulting nanolayers at neutral and slightly acidic pH. Furthermore, polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugates of our triscatecholates have been synthesized and were immobilized on TiO2 and stainless steel. The PEG coated surfaces showed excellent antifouling properties upon exposure to human blood and bacteria as demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy, ellipsometry and a bacterial assay with Staphylococcus epidermidis. In addition, our PEG-triscatecholates showed no cytotoxicity against bone-marrow stem cells on TiO2.