Manipulating sticky and non-sticky properties in a single material

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201100004

Sticky and non-sticky, together? A newly developed zwitterionic material (CB-OH; blue structure in scheme) has an equilibrium counterpart (CB-Ring; red). This interchangeable material allows control over two distinct properties: "non-sticky" CB-OH (biomolecular resistance) and "sticky" CB-Ring (binding by covalent bonds). Copyright

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201100004

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201100004
Smart Materials
Manipulating Sticky and Non-Sticky Properties in a Single Material**
Zhiqiang Cao, Norman Brault, Hong Xue, Andrew Keefe, and Shaoyi Jiang*
Non-sticky and sticky properties are two highly desired
characteristics of materials. The former property refers to the
ability to efficiently resist non-specific adsorption of biomol-
ecules and microorganisms, while the latter enables the
covalent attachment of biomolecular recognition elements.
The presence of both properties permits significant advance-
ments in numerous applications, such as biosensing, drug
delivery, and tissue engineering.[1–4] However, conventional
wisdom prevents these two distinct properties from co-
existing within a single material. For example, to achieve
sticky properties, non-sticky materials must be either reacted
to introduce functionalizable groups (for example carboxyl-
ate moieties) or reacted with coupling agents (for example
carbodiimides) so that they can be further conjugated with
biomolecular recognition elements. Such chemistry has been
applied to many materials, such as dextran,[5] polyethylene
glycol (PEG),[6–8] and zwitterionic polymers.[4,9,10] To the best
of our knowledge, a single material containing a controllable
sticky and non-sticky dual functionality has not been
reported.
into the sticky state where ligand conjugation occurs by
primary amine moieties. Unreacted CB-Ring groups can then
be switched back into zwitterionic CB-OH, resulting in a
protein-resistant background. Using this strategy, we present
a proof-of-concept experiment in which a high throughput
antibody array for early cancer diagnostics is realized.
The synthesis of CB-OH initially proceeded by the
reaction of sarcosine tert-butyl ester with glycidyl methacry-
late followed by the addition of methyl iodide to obtain the
CB-OH tBu ester. Subsequent treatment with trifluoroacetic
acid (TFA) to remove the protecting groups and neutraliza-
tion using basic ion-exchange resins provided the final
product, CB-OH, which was obtained as a white powder
after lyophilization (Supporting Information, Figure S1). The
reaction details and also the 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectro-
scopic data for both CB-OH tBu ester and CB-OH are given
in the Supporting Information. Ion-trap mass spectrometry
(IT-MS) further confirmed the result by giving a m/z value of
246.1 for the protonated form of CB-OH (the calculated
molecular weight MW for C11H19NO5H+ is 246.3).
Herein we present an answer to this challenge. The design
was inspired by a type of molecule with an acid/base-driven
equilibrium between two chemical states: a lactone ring
structure and an acidic open-ring structure, such as illustrated
by the drug camptothecin.[11–13] Combining this idea with the
established non-fouling properties of zwitterionic materials,[4]
we present a new monomer that can switch reversibly
between an open carboxylate form (CB-OH) and a six-
membered lactone ring (CB-Ring; Scheme 1, dashed box).
We hypothesize that this new material can alternate between
these two equilibrium states driven by either acidic or basic
conditions. The CB-OH form is ultralow fouling (non-sticky)
owing to its zwitterionic structure,[4] while the CB-Ring is
reactive (sticky) towards nucleophiles (for example amine
moieties) owing to the lactone.[14] In this work, we provide the
experimental evidence in support of these claims. A simple
strategy for applying this novel smart material, using only the
material itself, for ligand immobilization with an ultralow
fouling background is presented in Scheme 1 (right-hand
side). Specifically, CB-OH polymers can first be converted
Based on our hypothesis, the open carboxylate form (CB-
OH) should have an equilibrium lactone ring counterpart
(CB-Ring) that forms in the presence of acidic media. This
was tested by dissolving CB-OH in TFA for 2 h (or overnight
in a TFA/acetonitrile mixed solvent at 1:10 v/v). The resulting
product, precipitated in diethyl ether, consisted solely of the
CB-Ring structure according to 1H NMR and 13C NMR
spectra (see the Supporting Information) with a m/z value
+
of 228.1 by IT-MS (calculated MW for C11H18NO4 : 228.3).
Additionally, CB-Ring contained a characteristic 1H NMR
=
À
À
peak (m, 1H, CH2 C(CH3)COOCH2CH(O )CH2 ) at d =
5.53 ppm in [D]TFA or d = 5.38 ppm in D2O, which was
absent in the zwitterionic state, and thus allowed the
equilibrium kinetics to be quantified in different deuterated
solvent environments (Figure 1). It was found that in an acidic
environment (such as [D]TFA), CB-OH had a half-life of
about 14 minutes and was fully converted into the CB-Ring
structure within 2 hours. Going in the reverse direction using
aqueous buffer at pH 7, the CB-Ring structure was quickly
hydrolyzed with a half-life of about 4 minutes. Under basic
conditions (that is, pH 10) the half-life of CB-Ring became
even shorter (< 1 minute), with complete conversion into the
zwitterionic form in less than 6 minutes. The acidic or basic
conditions necessary to drive the equilibrium in the corre-
sponding directions are also indicated in Scheme 1.
[*] Z. Cao, N. Brault, H. Xue, A. Keefe, Prof. S. Jiang
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195 (USA)
Fax: (+1)206-543-3778
E-mail: sjiang@u.washington.edu
Homepage: http://depts.washington.edu/jgroup/Index.htm
The amino reactivity (that is, the sticky characteristic) of
the CB-Ring was then studied using a model molecule,
benzylamine, in both aqueous and organic environments. The
positively charged lactone could be efficiently conjugated to
the amine group, and the resulting CB-OH–benzyl conjugate,
purified by HPLC, was found to have a m/z of 335.4 by IT-MS
[**] This work was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(HDTRA1-10-1-0074) and the Office of Naval Research
(N000140910137 and N000140711036).
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201100004.
+
(calculated MW for C18H27N2O4 : 335.4). A control experi-
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6102 –6104

Scheme 1. The switchable properties of a material based on unique equilibrium states. CB-OH (blue) illustrates the “non-sticky” state, which
resists biomolecular adsorption (green). CB-Ring (red) represents the “sticky” state, which covalently binds to amine-containing biomolecules.
Unreacted CB-Ring groups can then be converted back into an ultralow fouling background (blue). Switching between CB-OH and CB-Ring occurs
only by the addition or removal of one water molecule from the material.
To further support our findings about this new switchable
material, IT-MS was used to study the fragmentation products
of isolated CB-OH, CB-Ring, and CB-OH-benzyl com-
pounds. It was observed that both CB-OH and the conjugate
shared the same ionized fragment (m/z 143.1), which was due
to the similarity of their molecular structures (Supporting
Information, Figure S2). CB-Ring had a completely different
fragmentation pattern, owing to its unique ring structure, thus
resulting in two characteristic fragments with m/z values of
200.0 and 84.2 (Supporting Information, Figure S2). Further-
more, a major difference could also be observed when
comparing the peak intensities for each starting material
with their fragments. It was observed that nearly 100% of
both CB-OH and the conjugate could be fragmented
compared to only 0.3% for CB-Ring owing to the difficulty
in fragmenting ring-structure molecules.
Figure 1. The equilibrium kinetics between CB-OH and CB-Ring struc-
Previous zwitterionic materials have been found to be
tures in three deuterated solvent environments. These include an
ultralow fouling (non-sticky) by effectively resisting protein
acidic solvent ([D]TFA, g) along with pH 7.3 (a) and pH 10
binding from undiluted human plasma and serum, along with
(c) buffers made from 200 mm Na2CO3 in D2O titrated with DCl.
adhesion from cells, bacteria, and other organisms.[4,15] The
term ultralow fouling has been used to further stratify low-
fouling materials into those which allow less than 5 ngcmÀ2 of
fibrinogen adsorption thereby effectively inhibiting platelet
adhesion that is necessary for blood compatibility.[16] While
the introduction of an OH group into zwitterionic carboxy-
betaine led to the creation of CB-OH, the effect of this moiety
on the non-fouling properties should be negligible. This was
tested by using thin films of CB-OH (ca. 20 nm) formed by
surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-
ATRP) from thiol initiators on gold substrates. SPR biosen-
sors were then used to quantify nonspecific protein binding.
Single protein solutions of fibrinogen and lysozyme in
phosphate buffer solution (PBS; 1 mgmLÀ1) as well as
undiluted human plasma were flowed over the CB-OH
surface. Undetectable adsorption (< 0.3 ngcmÀ2) was
observed for the single proteins, whereas (3.1 Æ 1.0) ngcmÀ2
of protein fouling was detected for human plasma (see
sensorgrams in the Supporting Information, Figure S3). These
results revealed that CB-OH was ultralow-fouling to all
Conversion was calculated by 1H NMR spectroscopy using a ratio of
=
the characteristic peak for CB-Ring (1H, CH2 C(CH3)COOCH2CH-
À
À
À
(O )CH2 ) and a common peak of both structures (6H, CH2N-
À
(CH3)2CH2 ). For further experimental details, see the Supporting
Information.
ment using the non-sticky zwitterionic form (CB-OH) as the
starting material resulted in no conjugation as determined by
both HPLC and IT-MS. As shown in Figure 1, the hydrolysis
rate of CB-Ring strongly depends upon the condition used. It
was thus necessary to quantify the conjugating efficiency
under different environments. Owing to the basic character of
benzylamine, any initial CB-Ring could undergo only con-
jugation or hydrolysis. By measuring the final concentration
of CB-OH by HPLC and comparing it to the control, a 5
molar excess of benzylamine with a 30 minute reaction time
resulted in efficiencies of 60% in pure water and 83% in
acetonitrile. It is likely that the aqueous conjugating efficiency
was lower owing to the competition between aminolysis (to
form the conjugate) and hydrolysis (to form CB-OH).
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6102 –6104
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Communications
solutions analyzed (that is, less than 5 ngcmÀ2 of bound
tion of hCG was observed for anti-hCG spots while a zero
response was observed for both the control antibody and the
background (see Figure 2b).
protein) and that this important property was maintained
despite modifying the original carboxybetaine compound. As
a reference, a monolayer of protein binding results in a sensor
response of 100–500 ngcmÀ2.[17]
It should be noted that many smart materials enable
switching between hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties.
Typical mechanisms for control include changes in light, pH,
electric potential, temperature, and redox reactions.[18,19]
However, none of these switchable materials have achieved
control over the two extreme properties obtained herein. In
this work, the non-sticky (resistance to protein adsorption
from 100% blood plasma) and sticky (permanent covalent
coupling) incompatible properties were controlled using one
single material.
As a proof-of-concept experiment, we then illustrated the
simple manipulation strategy for which the non-sticky and
sticky characteristics of this new switchable material could be
used to create a protein array. Using the same CB-OH
substrates formed by SI-ATRP as above, a 10 minute TFA
treatment was used to form a sufficient amount of CB-Ring
structures necessary for antibody immobilization. Two anti-
bodies (anti-hCG and anti-Salm) were then contact-printed
onto the amine-reactive surface in pH 10 buffer, resulting in a
6 ꢀ 12 array (Figure 2a). Our control study showed immobi-
Received: January 2, 2011
Revised: February 6, 2011
Published online: May 23, 2011
Keywords: antifouling · nucleophiles · protein immobilization ·
.
switchable materials · zwitterions
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Figure 2. a) A 6ꢀ12 protein array using thin polymer substrates of the
new smart material. Anti-hCG and anti-Salm (both red) were printed
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response was observed for either the background (black) or the Anti-
Salm control antibody (blue).
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lization in basic buffer (pH 10) was more efficient than
slightly acidic buffer (pH 6) owing to more deprotonated
amines under basic conditions (Supporting Information,
Figure S4). Subsequent hydrolysis of unreacted CB-Ring
components using pH 9 buffer for 60 minutes switched the
unspotted background from sticky into ultralow-fouling.
Using an SPR imaging biosensor, significant specific detec-
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6102 –6104