Tailoring of Polymer Surfaces with Monotype Functional Groups of Variable Density Using Chemical and Plasma Chemical Processes

Abstract

Polymer surfaces were modified in low-pressure glow discharge plasmas for introduction of monotype functional groups of different type and density. For this purpose three ways are selected, (i) oxygen plasma treatment followed by wet-chemical reduction of O functional groups to OH groups, (ii) plasma bromination for introducing C − Br groups and (iii) coating by deposition of thin plasma (co-) polymerized layers of functional groups-bearing monomers with OH, NH₂, COOH, epoxy etc. functionalities. Subsequently, these groups were used as anchoring points for chemical grafting of spacer molecules, oligomers, prepolymers, fluorescent labels, ionic and nucleic acid residues, employing different chemical routes. The yield in monosort functional groups at polymer surfaces ranged from 10–14 (process i), 20–40 (process ii) and 18–31 groups per 100 C atoms (process iii) as measured by XPS after derivatization. The consumption of functional groups amounted to 40–90% of all functionalities present at the surface and depended on the dimensions of grafted molecules. For infinitely variably tuning the number of functional groups process iii was performed as copolymerization of a functional group-carrying comonomer with a non-functionalized (“chain-extending”) comonomer.