A nanoscale metal alkoxide/oxide adhesion layer enables spatially controlled metallization of polymer surfaces.

Seeding polymer substrates for the attachment and growth of metallic contacts is an important problem in modern microcircuit fabrication. A new method to effect such polymer metallization is described in which the polymer is first treated with vapor of zirconium or titanium tetra-tert-butoxide and then thermalyzed to give several monolayers of zirconium or titanium oxides that are attached to the polymer surfaces. The thickness of this layer can be controlled by the vapor exposure time.

A nanoscale adhesion layer to promote cell attachment on PEEK.

A novel adhesion layer is described that enables covalent attachment of cell adherent molecules to the surfaces of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(aryl-ether-ether-ketone) PEEK. Vapor of zirconium or titanium tetra(tert-butoxides) can be deposited on the surface of PET or PEEK at room temperature at a pressure of ca. 10(-3) mm Hg.

A modular monolayer coating enables cell targeting by luminescent yttria nanoparticles.

Luminescent Eu(3+)-doped Y(2)O(3) nanoparticles are functionalized for cell targeting using a modular, multisegmented approach based on a phosphonate monolayer platform. The first segment provides hydrolytic stability for the particle-organic interface; the second enables aqueous suspendability; the third is used to bond cell attachment molecules. In vitro imaging experiments showed enhanced cell attachment of activated nanoparticles conjugated with cell attachment peptides compared to control nanoparticles.

Controlling cell adhesion on polyurethanes.

Cell attractive or non-attractive surface properties of polyurethane devices can be controlled by treating them with zirconium tetra(tert-butoxide). This gives reactive interfacial zirconium complex species that can be used subsequently to bond cell attractive peptides such as arg-gly-asp (RGD) or cell non-attractive organics such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the device surface. Control of the surface properties of the polyurethane occurs on the nanoscale, and does not compromise the physical properties of the polymer.

High-yield activation of scaffold polymer surfaces to attach cell adhesion molecules.

Zirconium tetra(tert-butoxide) reacts with surface amide groups of polyamide nylon 6/6 to give (eta(2)-amidate)zirconium complexes in high yield. These surface complexes react to bond the cell-adhesive peptide arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) to the polymer surface. A surface loading of 0.