Shilpi Chaudhary

Covalent immobilization of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles using an epoxy silane.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) can be used as antibody mimics to develop robust chemical sensors. One challenging problem in using MIPs for sensor development is the lack of reliable conjugation chemistry that allows MIPs to be fixed on transducer surface. In this work, we study the use of epoxy silane to immobilize MIP nanoparticles on model transducer surfaces without impairing the function of the immobilized nanoparticles. The MIP nanoparticles with a core-shell structure have selective molecular binding sites in the core and multiple amino groups in the shell. The model transducer surface is functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer of epoxy silane, which reacts with the core-shell MIP particles to enable straightforward immobilization. The whole process is characterized by studying the treated surfaces after each preparation step using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microscopy results show that the MIP particles are immobilized uniformly on surface. The photoelectron spectroscopy results further confirm the action of each functionalization step. The molecular selectivity of the MIP-functionalized surface is verified by radioligand binding analysis. The particle immobilization approach described here has a general applicability for constructing selective chemical sensors in different formats.

Covalent immobilization of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles on a gold surface using carbodiimide coupling for chemical sensing.

One challenging task in building (bio)chemical sensors is the efficient and stable immobilization of receptor on a suitable transducer. Herein, we report a method for covalent immobilization of molecularly imprinted core-shell nanoparticles for construction of robust chemical sensors. The imprinted nanoparticles with a core-shell structure have selective molecular binding sites in the core and multiple amino groups in the shell. The model Au transducer surface is first functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid. The 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid is activated by treatment with carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide and then reacted with the core-shell nanoparticles to form amide bonds. We have characterized the process by studying the treated surfaces after each preparation step using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microscopy results show the successful immobilization of the imprinted nanoparticles on the surface. The photoelectron spectroscopy results further confirm the success of each functionalization step. Further, the amino groups on the MIP surface were activated by electrostatically adsorbing negatively charged Au colloids. The functionalized surface was shown to be active for surface enhanced Raman scattering detection of propranolol. The particle immobilization and surface enhanced Raman scattering approach described here has a general applicability for constructing chemical sensors in different formats.

Breath Figure Patterns Made Easy

In this work, a simple breath figure method was proposed to directly fabricate large-area and ordered honeycomb structures on commercial PMMA substrates or PS Petri dishes without the use of an external polymer solution. The obtained honeycomb structure is indeed part of the substrate, providing the honeycomb layer with enough mechanical stability. The breath figure method in this work for the synthesis of honeycomb structure is extremely simple with scale-up capability to large-area production, which offers new insights into surface engineering with great potential in commercial technologies. For example, using the honeycomb-patterned Petri dishes prepared via this method, cells can be easily separated into divided aggregation, which favors understanding of naturally occurring networks in higher organisms and cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and the therapeutic control of genetic circuits.

Iron phthalocyanine on Cu(111): Coverage-dependent assembly and symmetry breaking, temperature-induced homocoupling, and modification of the adsorbate-surface interaction by annealing

We have examined the geometric and electronic structures of iron phthalocyanine assemblies on a Cu(111) surface at different sub- to mono-layer coverages and the changes induced by thermal annealing at temperatures between 250 and 320 °C by scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The symmetry breaking observed in scanning tunneling microscopy images is found to be coverage dependent and to persist upon annealing. Further, we find that annealing to temperatures between 300 and 320 °C leads to both desorption of iron phthalocyanine molecules from the surface and their agglomeration. We see clear evidence of temperature-induced homocoupling reactions of the iron phthalocyanine molecules following dehydrogenation of their isoindole rings, similar to what has been observed for related tetrapyrroles on transition metal surfaces. Finally, spectroscopy indicates a modified substrate-adsorbate interaction upon annealing with a shortened bond distance. This finding could potentially explain a changed reactivity of Cu-supported iron phthalocyanine in comparison to that of the pristine compound.

In situ characterization of the deposition of anatase TiO2 on rutile TiO2(110)

Growing additional TiO2 thin films on TiO2 substrates in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV)-compatible chambers have many applications for sample preparation, such as smoothing surface morphologies, templating, and covering impurities. However, there has been little study into how to control the morphology of TiO2 films deposited onto TiO2 substrates, especially using atomic layer deposition (ALD) precursors. Here, the authors show the growth of a TiO2 film on a rutile TiO2(110) surface using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and water as the precursors at pressures well below those used in common ALD reactors. X-ray absorption spectroscopy suggests that the relatively low sample temperature (175 °C) results in an anatase film despite the rutile template of the substrate. Using ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the adsorption of TTIP was found to be self-limiting, even at room temperature. No molecular water was found to adsorb on the surface. The deposited thickness suggests that an alternate chemic...

Sonogashira cross-coupling over Au(1 1 1): from UHV to ambient pressure

We have studied the reaction of phenylacetylene (PA) with chloro-, bromo-, and iodobenzene on the Au(1 1 1) surface as a model system for the gold-catalysed Sonogashira cross-coupling. Both ultrahigh vacuum-based and ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that iodo- and chlorobenzene (IB and CB) undergo the cross-coupling reaction towards diphenylacetylene. Bromobenzene (BB), in contrast, does not react in the UHV experiments. Further, at ambient pressure signs are found for poisoning of the Au(1 1 1) surface by a carbon species formed in the reaction. The understanding obtained in the reaction experiments are based on a thorough investigation of the adsorption of PA, IB, CB, and BB on the Au(1 1 1) surface by soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy and temperature-dependent x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In particular, the experiments provide the orientation of the intact adsorbates with respect to the surfaces at liquid nitrogen temperature. Dissociation in the temperature regime between  -80 and  -15 °C is observed for iodo- and chlorobenzene, but not for BB, in agreement with that only IB and CB, but not BB, react with PA to form diphenylacetylene. The difference is tentatively attributed to a difference in surface orientation of the different halobenzenes.

Corrigendum to “Covalent immobilization of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles on a gold surface using carbodiimide coupling for chemical sensing” [J. Colloid Interface Sci. 461 (2016) 1–8]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2015.10.002 0021-9797/ 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2015.09.009 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: lei.ye@tbiokem.lth.se (L. Ye). Tripta Kamra , Shilpi Chaudhary , Changgang Xu , Lars Montelius , Joachim Schnadt , Lei Ye b,⇑ Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden Division of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden Division of Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden