A growing body of literature has keyed on the desirable properties of mussel foot proteins, which provide adhesion under wet and dirty environments that frustrate most commercial adhesives. Sequencing of the interfacial protein residues has revealed that nearly a third of the repeat units consist of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) which have pendent catechols. The versatile chemistry exhibited by catechols (e.g. covalent cross-linking, metal chelating) has led to a number of groups exploring the incorporation of catechol functionality into synthetic backbones, with several examples of workable systems present in the literature. To contribute to this community, we have synthesized a library of polyacrylate-co-1-[2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethyl]-maleimides (PAMs) that vary in their aliphatic side-chain length on a common polymer backbone, allowing for control over both Tg and backbone polarity. In an attempt to isolate the fundamental polymer physics characteristics required for a successful catechol-enabled synthetic adhesive, a series of experiments were conducted to explore surface properties, polymer morphology, and thermal characteristics. In addition, the propensity for the synthetic polymers to adsorb adventitious moisture has been quantified, and the resulting shift in Tg has also been characterized. It is expected that the modest adhesive performance garnered by the library will provide fundamental insight for the coupling of established adhesive chemistries with novel bioinspired approaches, allowing for the rational design of improved interfacial adhesion in adverse environments.

Bioinspired synthetic adhesives: Catechol sidechain effects on T<sub>g</sub> and polarity

254th National Meeting (2017)

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Bioinspired synthetic adhesives: Catechol sidechain effects on Tg and polarity

Bioinspired synthetic adhesives: Catechol sidechain effects on T_g and polarity