Spectroscopic Studies of Ultrathin Biopolymer Films at Metal Surfaces

这项研究项目由威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的Robert Corn教授进行，并得到分析和表面化学计划的支持，使用表面光谱来表征固/液界面上的超薄生物聚合物膜。所研究的生物聚合物包括合成多肽、碱基修饰的寡核苷酸、单个氨基酸衍生的多肽和表面聚合多肽多层。利用金表面的生物聚合物薄膜作为衬底，使金表面具有导电性，并用表面等离子体共振光谱对其进行表征。表面FTIR、荧光测量、接触角和成像SPR光谱也被用来确定生物聚合物薄膜的性质。探索了新的附着策略(胺和/或硫醇偶联方法)。生物分子表面分离的DNA分子将被用作表面信息编码的一种手段，了解生物分子薄膜在金属表面的附着以及表征薄膜结构的手段是生物传感器、医学植入物、人工生物结构和基础材料科学等领域的重要研究内容。康恩教授将研究这种附着的中心问题和结构特征，使用互补的表面光谱来确定附着在表面上的天然和改性生物分子的结构和形状。通过这样做，他们的行动机制将得到更好的理解。在一个令人兴奋的潜在应用中，表面孤立的基于DNA的分子将被用作表面信息编码的一种手段。

This research project, carried out by Professor Robert Corn at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program, uses surface spectroscopies to characterize ultrathin biopolymer films at solid/liquid interfaces. The biopolymers studied include synthetic polypeptides, oligonucleotides with modified bases, polypeptides with derivatized individual amino acids, and surface polymerized polypeptide multilayers. Biopolymer thin films on gold surfaces are used as substrates so that the surface is conductive, and so that surface plasmon resonance spectrometry is used to characterize the thin film on the surface. Surface FTIR, fluorescence measurements, and contact angle and imaging SPR spectroscopies are also used to establish the nature of the thin biopolymer film. New attachment strategies (amine and/or thiol coupling methods) are explored. In an exciting potential application, isolated DNA-based molecules on surfaces will be used as a means of encoding information on surfaces.Understanding of the attachment of thin films of biomolecules to metal surfaces, and the means to characterize the structures of the thin films, underlies much research in biosensors, medical implants, artificial biostructures, and basic materials science. Professor Corn will study central issues of this attachment and structural characterization, using complementary surface spectroscopies to establish the structure and shape of the natural and modified biomolecules attached to surfaces. In so doing, their mechanisms of action will become better understood. In an exciting potential application, isolated DNA-based molecules on surfaces will be used as a means of encoding information on surfaces.