Novel labile protected amine terpolymers for the preparation of patterned functionalized surfaces: Synthesis and characterization

Photolabile terpolymers have been designed and used to prepare thin organic films covalently attached to glass and silicon substrates. For this, terpolymers containing photolabile protected amino functions introduced by N-(N-nitroveratryloxycarbonylaminopropyl)methacrylamide as well as (trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate and MMA as comonomers have been synthesized via free radical polymerization. The nitro group containing protecting group leads to a retardation of the free radical polymerization. But complete removal of non-reacted monomer from the reaction product without gelation of the anchoring groups was achieved. Thin films from these terpolymers were structured imagewise by UV laser light irradiation in order to create defined functional areas at the template surface ready for further modification and attachment of nanoobjects. The selective deprotection was verified by UV-imaging and selective modification reaction using fluorescence labeling.