Recognition of sugars on surface-bound cap-shaped gold particles modified with a polymer brush

A dithiolated random copolymer with pendent phenylboronic acid residues (Cys-Poly(3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid-co-2-dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide), Cys-Poly(APBA-co-DMAPMA)) obtained by photo-iniferter method was accumulated as a polymer brush on a cap-shaped gold particles deposited on a vacuum-evaporated gold film, and the usefulness of the polymer brush as a sensing element for glycoprotein, ovalbumin (OVA), was examined by using UV–vis spectroscopy with a help of surface plasmon resonance. A similar system was constructed with a dithiolated mannose-carrying polymer, dithiolated-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl-D-mannopyranoside) (DT-PMEMan), prepared by the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The brush composed of this polymer was examined as a sensing element for lectin, concanavalin A (Con A). The sensor cells modified with Cys-Poly(APBA-co-DMAPMA) and DT-PMEMan showed a concentration-dependent binding of OVA and Con A, respectively, with a comparable detection limit to those with a monolayer of polymer brush-coated gold particle deposited on a glass substrate. Using this system, it can be expected to open a new perspective to various functional polymer brushes fixed to the cap-shaped gold particle on a solid substrate.