Influence of anchoring segments on methacrylate-based comb-type hydrophilic polymer segments coated on silica surfaces using the grafting-to method

Owing to development of controlled radical polymerization, a coating of substrates with (meth)acrylate-based hydrophilic polymers has been widely utilized to construct a biocompatible interface. The polymer layers impart a non-fouling effect against proteins correlated to conformations of the polymer segments. For (meth)acrylate-based polymer coating, it is speculated that interaction between polymers and substrates cannot be negligible when describing the conformation because their main chains have a hydrophobic nature derived from the alkyl structure. Herein, we performed coating of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) with poly(olygoethylenglycolmethacrylate) (pOEGMA) and observed the coated pOEGMA likely lied flat on the silica surface in aqueous milieu. Block copolymerization with an anchoring segment facilitated the pOEGMA domains to be free from the surface and promoted non-fouling property likely due to anchoring segments occupying adsorption sites for pOEGMA. These results indicated the anchoring segment plays an important role in the construction of the methacrylate-based polymer layers for a bio-interface.