The Covalent Tethering of Poly(ethylene glycol) to Nylon 6 Surface via <i>N</i>,<i>N′</i>-Disuccinimidyl Carbonate Conjugation: A New Approach in the Fight against Pathogenic Bacteria

• Main Authors: Sumita Swar, Veronika Máková, Ivan Stibor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG); conjugation; <i>N</i>,<i>N′</i>-disuccinimidyl carbonate (DSC); immobilization; surface modification
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/10/2181

Different forms of unmodified and modified Poly(ethylene glycols) (PEGs) are widely used as antifouling and antibacterial agents for biomedical industries and Nylon 6 is one of the polymers used for biomedical textiles. Our recent study focused on an efficient approach to PEG immobilization on a reduced Nylon 6 surface via <i>N</i>,<i>N′</i>–disuccinimidyl carbonate (DSC) conjugation. The conversion of amide functional groups to secondary amines on the Nylon 6 polymer surface was achieved by the reducing agent borane-tetrahydrofuran (BH₃–THF) complex, before binding the PEG. Various techniques, including water contact angle and free surface energy measurements, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, were used to confirm the desired surface immobilization. Our findings indicated that PEG may be efficiently tethered to the Nylon 6 surface via DSC, having an enormous future potential for antifouling biomedical materials. The bacterial adhesion performances against <i>S. aureus</i> and <i>P. aeruginosa</i> were examined. In vitro cytocompatibility was successfully tested on pure, reduced, and PEG immobilized samples.