Fabrication and luminescence of designer surface patterns with beta-cyclodextrin functionalized quantum dots via multivalent supramolecular coupling

Visualizing resonance energy transfer in supramolecular surface patterns of β-CD-functionalized quantum dot hosts and organic dye guests by fluorescence lifetime imaging

Detection of an analyte via supramolecular host-guest binding and quantum dot (QD)-based fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal transduction mechanism is demonstrated. Surface patterns consisting of CdSe/ZnS QDs functionalized at their periphery with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) were obtained by immobilization of the QDs from solution onto glass substrates patterned with adamantyl-terminated poly(propylene imine) dendrimeric "glue." Subsequent formation of host-guest complexes between vacant β-CD on the QD surface and an adamantyl-functionalized lissamine rhodamine resulting in FRET was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, spectroscopy, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM).

Orthogonal covalent and noncovalent functionalization of cyclodextrin-alkyne patterned surfaces

The creation of cyclodextrin patterns on a fluorescent reporter surface by microcontact printing provides a versatile orthogonal surface modification method. The alkyne-beta-cyclodextrin surface is prepared through a "click" reaction on alkyne-terminated coumarin monolayers. The resulting alkyne-beta-cyclodextrin surface can be functionalized through supramolecular microcontact printing on cyclodextrin host patterns and by reactive microcontact printing-induced click chemistry on the alkyne-terminated patterns. The orthogonal covalent and supramolecular "host-guest" functionalization of the surface, and its specificity as well as selectivity, is demonstrated by sequential and one-step printing procedures.

One-pot preparation of ferrocene-functionalized polymer brushes on gold substrates by combined surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization and "click chemistry"

A gold substrate with surface-grafted ferrocene functional polymer brushes, or Au-g-PFTMA surface [PFTMA = poly(5-ferrocene-triazolyl methacrylate)], was prepared by a combination of surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) and "click chemistry" in one pot, in the presence of 2-azidoethyl methacrylate (AzEMA), ethynyl ferrocene, CuBr catalyst, CuBr(2) deactivator, and pentamethyldiethylenetriamine ligand. Thus, SI-ATRP of AzEMA from the Au substrate (the "grafting from" process) and click chemistry of the ethynyl ferrocene to the azide functional group of AzEMA (the "grafting to" process) proceeded simultaneously to produce the functional PFTMA brushes on the Au surface. Kinetic studies suggest that the reaction involving simultaneous SI-ATRP and click chemistry is still consistent with a controlled/"living" process. The composition and physical properties of the modified gold surface were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, water contact angle measurement, and cyclic voltammetry. The redox-responsive properties of the ferrocene-functionalized polymer brushes on the Au-g-PFTMA surface were demonstrated in the reversible loading-unloading step of the β-cyclodextrin polymer via host-guest interaction.

PM-IRRAS assessment of the compression-mediated orientation of the nanocavity of a monoacylated beta-cyclodextrin in monolayers at the air-water interface

The structural orientation adopted along the compression-decompression isotherm by a monoacylated beta-cyclodextrin (C16-betaCD) at the air-water interface was assessed by polarization-modulation infrared reflection-adsorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS). The adoption of different orientations of the cyclic oligosaccharide unit, relative to the interfacial plane, was interpreted analyzing the PM-IRRAS band intensity ratios of specific vibrations corresponding to the cyclodextrin moiety as a function of the surface pressure for successive compression/decompression cycles. The spectroscopic analysis revealed that the cyclic oligosaccharide modifies its position under compression from one in which the plane of the cavity of the monoacylated beta-cyclodextrin lies almost parallel to the interface to another in which the plane of the cavity is perpendicular to the interface. Through the PM-IRRAS analysis, it was also possible to evidence the establishment of an intermolecular hydrogen bonding network that may play an important role in the dynamic properties of the monolayer packing. The hydrogen bonding network becomes more important with the increases of surface pressure, up to a molecular packing limit, and it imparts the surface properties of the film for future compression-decompression cycles.