Mild and Versatile (Bio-)Functionalization of Glass Surfaces via Thiol-Ene Photochemistry

A study was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of thiol-ene photochemistry to produce glass surfaces with polymeric and bioorganic coatings under mild conditions. Surface-bound thiyl radicals were used to initiate the polymerization of methacrylic acid and add to α-olefins, such as allyl-α-D-glucopyranoside, 1H,1H,2H-perfluoro-1-decene, or 1,2-polybutadiene. The surfaces were characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, fluorescence microscopy (FM), and scanning force microscopy (SFM). Commercial glass slides were treated with a piranha solution for 1 hour at room temperature to regenerate silanol groups on the surface. Direct sulfhydrylation of the activated glass surface was done with MPTMS. A solution of MPTMS in tetrahydrofuran containing 0.4 vol% of HCl concentration was spin-coated onto a glass substrate at 500 rpm for 30 s.