NOVEL MODIFIED FLUOROPOLYMERIC MATERIALS FOR OPTICAL BIOSENSOR APPLICATIONS

RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING A FLUOROPOLYMER BASED IMMUNOPROBE. RECENT WORK IN THIS AREA HAS ILLUSTRATED THE SUPERIORITY OF IMMOBILIZING BIOLOGICAL RECOGNITION ELEMENTS ONTO A FLUOROPOLYMER MATERIAL AS COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL QUARTZ SUBSTRATA USED IN CONSTRUCTING FIBER-OPTIC IMMUNOPROBES. THE POTENTIAL FOR COMMERCIALIZATION EXISTS, BUT REQUIRES THE OPTIMIZATION OF THE SURFACE CHEMISTRY USED IN CONSTRUCTING THIS PARTICULAR IMMUNOPROBE. THREE AREAS NEED TO BE EXPLORED IN ORDER TO OPTIMIZE THE SURFACE CHEMISTRY: (1) THE INITIAL SURFACE MODIFICATION WHICH INCORPORATES REACTIVE SURFACE HYDROXYL FUNCTIONALITY TO A TRANSPARENT FILM OF POLYTERTRAFLUOROETHYLENE-CO-HEXAFLUORO-PROPYLENE (FEP); (2) THE COMPARISON OF MONOFUNCTIONAL VERSUS DIFUNCTIONAL COVALENT LINKING LIGANDS; AND (3) THE EVALUATION OF DENSITY AND ACTIVITY OF AN ANTIBODY PROTEIN AND ANTIBODY PROTEIN FRAGMENT AND THEIR AFFECT ON FLUORESCENCE RESPONSE. THE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES TO BE EMPLOYED INCLUDE ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY FOR CHEMICAL ANALYSIS (ESCA), ATTENUATED TOTAL REFLECTANCE FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY (ATR-FTIR), AND FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY. BY EVALUATING THE OPTIMUM COVERAGE WHICH PROVIDES THE GREATEST SENSITIVITY, THESE NEW MATERIALS WILL BE BETTER POSITIONED FOR APPLICATION IN FIBER OPTIC BIOSENSORS USING FLUOROPOLYMERS FOR PROTEIN BASED RECOGNITION ELEMENTS.