Nano Commentary
Synthesis and characteristics of NH2-functionalized polymer films to align and immobilize DNA molecules
1 School of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
2 Metal Development Group, MDS Development Team, MDS Division, Samsung Techwin Co., LTD 42, Changwon, 642-716, Republic of Korea
3 Department of Chemistry and Institute of Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
4 Quantum Optics Lab, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea
5 Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon, 641-831, Republic of Korea
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:30 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-30
Published: 5 January 2012Abstract
We developed a method to use NH2-functionalized polymer films to align and immobilize DNA molecules on a Si substrate. The plasma-polymerized cyclohexane film was deposited on the Si substrate according to the radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method using a single molecular precursor, and it was then treated by the dielectric barrier discharge method in a nitrogen environment under atmospheric pressure. Changes in the chemistry of the surface functional groups were studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The wettability of the surfaces was examined using dynamic contact angle measurements, and the surface morphology was evaluated using atomic force microscopy.
We utilized a tilting method to align λ-DNA molecules that were immobilized by the electrostatic interaction between the amine groups in NH2-functionalized polymer films and the phosphate groups in the DNA. The DNA was treated with positively charged gold nanoparticles to make a conductive nanowire that uses the DNA as a template. We observed that the NH2-functionalized polymer film was useful for aligning and immobilizing the DNA, and thus the DNA-templated nanowires.
