Polystyrene is a commonly used substrate for biochemical studies because it is a durable and inexpensive polymer which lends itself

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SYNTHESIZER

FOR

MOLECULAR ENGINEERING OF MATERIALS

USED IN BIO-MEDICAL ANALYSIS.

POLYSTYRENE WITH ZINC SULFIDE

AND

DNA WITH POLYSTYRENE

(U.K.Patent No.GB2397782,INDIA Patent No.200286)

(Rights Recorded in U.S.A, CANADA, JAPAN, CHINA,PHILIPPINES & PCT Countries)

Polystyrene is a commonly used substrate for biochemical studies because it is a durable and inexpensive polymer which lends itself well to surface modification by a variety of processes.

Surface modification processes on polystyrene are tailored to amine and carboxyl functional groups because these groups form the basis for the bonding of numerous biomaterials.

Chemical and plasma pretreatment of polymers are methods used to introduce amine groups carboxyl and hydroxyl groups especially onto polystyrene.

The ability to cost-effectively produce amine and carboxyl functionalized surfaces is also valuable in the surface attachment of proteins.

Proteins are comprised of chains of amino acids. They are like polymers in that they may be composed of as many as sixty or more amino acid units. The presence of carboxyl functional groups make proteins highly
reactive with amine groups for surface binding. There is currently much interest in the attachment of proteins onto amine terminated self-assembled alkanethiol chains for use in DNA sequencing and biomolecular adsorption sensors.

1.Zinc Sulfide Synthesis in Polystyrene

2.DNA Binding to Polystyrene

Surface modification of polystyrene thin films with atmospheric pressure water plasma provides a means to generate zinc sulfide particles. The presence of zinc sulfide can be confirmed with fluorescence spectrometry. Increasing the water plasma exposure time of polystyrene films clearly improves zinc sulfide yield after the hydrogen sulfide reaction. Zinc sulfide agglomerations formed in this process have a size of
approximately 40 nm. Surfactants may be used on plasma modified polymer films to produce long lasting wetting surfaces. Atmospheric pressure water plasma was also utilized to successfully attach single strand DNA to polystyrene surfaces.