Biomimetic dopamine-diels-alder switches.

Mussel adhesives function as tools for surface modifications of a wide variety of materials due to their remarkable adhesion properties. Herein, a combination of bioinspired mussel adhesives based on a dopamine derivative, polymer chemistry, and well-established DielsAlder (DA) chemistry leads to a bioinspired switchable surface system that possesses the capability of attaching and detaching specific polymers on demand. A dopaminemaleimide compound, which has been attached to a gold surface under maritime conditions undergoes DA- and retro-DA-click-conjugations with cyclopentadiene-carrying PEG chains. The surface attachment and the subsequent DA/rDA cycles are evidenced via XPS analysis.