Generation and Characterization of a Library of Novel Biologically Active Functional Surfactants (Surfmers) Using Combined High-Throughput Methods

Cuzzucoli Crucitti, Valentina; Contreas, Leonardo; Taresco, Vincenzo; Howard, Shaun C.; Dundas, Adam A.; Limo, Marion J.; Nisisako, Takasi; Williams, Philip M.; Williams, Paul; Alexander, Morgan R.; Wildman, Ricky D.; Muir, Benjamin W.; Irvine, Derek J.

Abstract

We report the first successful combination of three distinct high-throughput techniques to deliver the accelerated design, synthesis, and property screening of a library of novel, bio-instructive, polymeric, comb-graft surfactants. These three-dimensional, surface-active materials were successfully used to control the surface properties of particles by forming a unimolecular deep layer on the surface of the particles via microfluidic processing. This strategy deliberately utilizes the surfactant to both create the stable particles and deliver a desired cell-instructive behavior. Therefore, these specifically designed, highly functional surfactants are critical to promoting a desired cell response. This library contained surfactants constructed from 20 molecularly distinct (meth)acrylic monomers, which had been pre-identified by HT screening to exhibit specific, varied, and desirable bacterial biofilm inhibitory responses. The surfactant's self-assembly properties in water were assessed by developing a novel, fully automated, HT method to determine the critical aggregation concentration. These values were used as the input data to a computational-based evaluation of the key molecular descriptors that dictated aggregation behavior. Thus, this combination of HT techniques facilitated the rapid design, generation, and evaluation of further novel, highly functional, cell-instructive surfaces by application of designed surfactants possessing complex molecular architectures.

Citation

Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., Contreas, L., Taresco, V., Howard, S. C., Dundas, A. A., Limo, M. J., …Irvine, D. J. (2021). Generation and Characterization of a Library of Novel Biologically Active Functional Surfactants (Surfmers) Using Combined High-Throughput Methods. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13(36), 43290-43300. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c08662

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 28, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 31, 2021
• Publication Date: Sep 15, 2021
• Deposit Date: Aug 2, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Journal: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
• Electronic ISSN: 1944-8252
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 36
• Pages: 43290-43300
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c08662
• Keywords: Surfactant, High Throughput, Polymerization, critical aggregation concentration, CAC
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5950990
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.1c08662