Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Polymerized 2-Ethyl-2-oxazoline Based Thin Films for Biomedical Purposes.

Věra Mazánková,Kadir Ozaltin,David Trunec,Antonín Brablec,Monika Stupavská,Lubomír Prokeš,Vilma Buršíková,Pavel Sťahel,Jan Čech,Petr Humpolíček,Petra Matoušková,Marián Lehocký

doi:10.3390/polym12112679

Abstract

Polyoxazoline thin coatings were deposited on glass substrates using atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization from 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline vapours. The plasma polymerization was performed in dielectric barrier discharge burning in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. The thin films stable in aqueous environments were obtained at the deposition with increased substrate temperature, which was changed from 20 C to 150 C. The thin film deposited samples were highly active against both S. aureus and E. coli strains in general. The chemical composition of polyoxazoline films was studied by FTIR and XPS, the mechanical properties of films were studied by depth sensing indentation technique and by scratch tests. The film surface properties were studied by AFM and by surface energy measurement. After tuning the deposition parameters (i.e., monomer flow rate and substrate temperature), stable films, which resist bacterial biofilm formation and have cell-repellent properties, were achieved. Such antibiofouling polyoxazoline thin films can have many potential biomedical applications.

Highlights

Poly(2-oxazoline) (POx) is a promising alternative to polyethylene glycol (PEG) for polymer functionalization of surfaces which can impart desired biochemical properties to different materials [1].POx has attracted substantial attention recently due to its antibiofouling properties [2,3] and good biocompatibility [4]
The POx films deposited from 2-methyl-2-oxazoline promote cell viability compared to the blank glass substrate, whereas the cells do not adhere on the POx films deposited from 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline
The poly(2-oxazoline) thin films were deposited on glass substrates in atmospheric pressure

Summary

Introduction

Poly(2-oxazoline) (POx) is a promising alternative to polyethylene glycol (PEG) for polymer functionalization of surfaces which can impart desired biochemical properties to different materials [1].POx has attracted substantial attention recently due to its antibiofouling properties [2,3] and good biocompatibility [4]. Poly(2-oxazoline) (POx) is a promising alternative to polyethylene glycol (PEG) for polymer functionalization of surfaces which can impart desired biochemical properties to different materials [1]. Polymer materials used in medicine (polypropylene, polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene) can be coated by POx thin layer, which can suppress the creation of bacterial. POx can be synthesized via cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) or by surface-initiated CROP (SI-CROP). Other possible polymerization techniques are photocoupling [5] and grafting [6], both of which require the premodification of substrates. The formation of POx coatings using conventional methods is a slow and complex multistep procedure, which can be conducted only on a limited range of substrates. Plasma polymerization of 2-oxazolines was used to produce robustly attached coatings on different substrates

Methods

Results

Conclusion