ABSTRACT
YONG-KUAN GONG 1, FACKSON MWALE2, MICHAEL R. WERTHEIMER3 and FRANCOISE M. WINNIK1 * 1 Department of Chemistry and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Montreal, CP6128 Succursale Centre Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
2 Department of Engineering Physics, Ecole Polytechnique, CP 6079 Succursale Centre Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7
Received 20 November 2003; accepted 5 April 2004
Abstract-Phosphorylcholine (PC) groups were grafted onto ammonia plasma-treated biaxiallyoriented polypropylene (BOPP) surfaces, via (a) reductive amination of phosphorylcholine glyceraldehyde and (b) a two-step procedure involving the chemical amplification of surface amine groups with tris(2-aminoethyl amine) and subsequent reductive amination of phosphorylcholine glyceraldehyde. The occurrence of grafting was ascertained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy. The wettability of PC-modified surfaces was assessed by dynamic contact-angle measurements using the Wilhelmy plate method. Human U937 macrophages adhered and proliferated to a significantly larger extent on PC-modified surfaces, compared to unmodified or ammonia plasma-modified BOPP.
