title: Novel Anti-Biofouling Soft Contact Lens: l-Cysteine Conjugated Amphiphilic Conetworks via RAFT and Thiol-Ene Click Chemistry.
abstract: A unique l-cysteine conjugated antifouling amphiphilic conetwork (APCN) is synthesized through end-crosslinking of well-defined triblock copolymers poly(allyl methacrylate)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(allyl methacrylate) via a combination of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and thiol-ene "click" chemistry. The synthesized poly(ethylene glycol) macro-RAFT agent initiates the polymerization of allyl methacrylate in a controlled manner. The vinyl pendant groups of the precursor partially conjugate with l-cysteine and the rest fully crosslink with mercaptopropyl-containing siloxane via thiol-ene click chemistry under UV irradiation into APCNs, which show distinguished properties, that is, excellent biocompatibility, more than 39.6% water content, 101 barrers oxygen permeability, optimized mechanical properties, and more than 93% visible light transmittance. What's more, the resultant APCNs exhibit eminent resistance to protein adsorption, where the bovine serum albumin and lysozyme adsorption are decreased to 12 and 21 µg cm-2, respectively. The outstanding properties of APCNs depend on the RAFT controlled method, which precisely designs the hydrophilic/hydrophobic segments and eventually greatly improves the crosslinking efficiency and homogeneity. Meantime, the l-cysteine monolayer can effectively reduce the surface hydrophobicity and prevent protein adsorption, which exhibits the viability for antifouling surface over and under ophthalmic devices, suggesting a promising soft contact lens.
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chengfeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ziyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Haiye
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chunju
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D057930:Click Chemistry; D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic; D006224:Cricetinae; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing
chemical_list: D003545:Cysteine
keywords: amphiphilic conetworks; anti-biofouling; click chemistry; reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization; soft contact lens