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Abstract
As technologies for surface design and synthetic biomaterials advance, thedevelopment of cost-effective and simple methods for polymeric bioconjugated surfacesbecomes increasingly important. Carbohydrate conjugation to surfaces has routinely beenperformed through small molecule attachments to complementary chemistries at theinterface. This, however, lacks the advantages of polymeric materials and often requiressynthetic modification to the sugar residue which may come at a time cost or loss ofbiological recognition. Polymer-based materials provide avenues to mimic cell membranepresentation of glycans in order to increase binding affinity. To design surfaces withvariable density and ratio of functionalities and the ability to be patterned, a grafted-topolymeric activated ester, pentafluorophenyl acrylate (PFPA), was utilized. Post-polymerization modification of the surface-grafted polymer with hydrazine resulted in theability to conjugate carbohydrates via their reducing end. This attachment chemistry wasshown to retain the biorecognition by incubation of 3-sialyllactose conjugated substratesin the presence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The bacteria displayed gliding motilitycomparable to that observed when exposed to sialic acid containing glycoproteins. Thisprocess was optimized to achieve cost-effective and mild conditions as a route toconjugation of a wide variety of carbohydrates.