Design and preparation of porous polymer particles with polydopamine coating and selective enrichment for biomolecules

Abstract

Macroporous adsorption resins are one of the most important polymer particles for diverse potential applications. Typically, gigaporous structures can be generated by the surfactant reverse micelles swelling method, providing polymer particles with ultra-large pore diameter. Herein, we reported the first example of poly(styrene-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (PSE) as efficient enrichment media for biomolecule enrichment. The PSE possessed a gigaporous structure which was even capable of adsorbing biomacromolecule bovine serum albumin (BSA). A novel and facile strategy of polydopamine (PDOPA) modification was proposed to fabricate porous particles, and hereby PDOPA in ethanol aqueous solution was coated on PSE with well-controlled thickness. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was employed to characterize the internal pore structure and understand the distribution of adsorbate in the porous particles. The PDOPA modified porous particles exhibited a selective adsorption for peptides with different molecular weights based on the sieving effect and other interactions.