Study of polydimethylacrylamide- and polydiethylacrylamide-adsorbed coatings on fused silica capillaries and their application in genetic analysis Original Research Article

The adsorption of two polymers (polydimethylacrylamide and polydiethylacrylamide) on the inner surface of a fused silica of capillary (or wafer) was investigated by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM), multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) technique, and by measuring the electroosmotic flow (EOF) and contact angle. The AFM images showed that PDMA and PDEA tightly adsorbed on the fused silica surface and formed stable coatings. The contact angle data demonstrated that the polymer-adsorbed coatings have different hydrophobicities, which are related to the structures of the polymers. The adsorbing capability and stability of the adsorption coating, perhaps, were mainly dependent on the hydrogen bond force between oxygen atom on the carbonyl group of polymers and the hydroxyl group of the silica surface, and the hydrophobic nature of polymers. Our data also illustrated that the polymer-adsorbed coatings efficiently suppressed the EOF and the adsorption of DNA fragments on the capillary surface. These polymers were successfully used as sieving media in capillary electrophoresis of DNA fragments and detection of single point mutation of C677T from human methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene.