材料科学家从自然界中得到提示，成功地把多巴胺作为有机和无机表面的万能胶。把两种材料粘合在一起是一个常见的工程挑战。虽然科学家在实验室制造出各种各样的胶，但是大多数只在有限的条件下能用。Haeshin Lee和同事从贻贝中得到启示，贻贝的胶蛋白质能粘到几乎所有的表面。他们用一个叫左旋多巴(levodopa)的小分子简单地模拟具有结合与粘合性能的贻贝蛋白，左旋多巴是合成多巴胺过程中的一个生物中间体，多巴胺在大脑调节中起作用。Lee和同事在与酸碱度匹配贻贝的海洋环境的容器中制造了稀释的多巴胺溶液，然后把金属、塑料、和陶瓷衬底放到溶液中。一层薄薄的高分子胶生长到衬底上，这种胶能同样地粘合到复杂的和有图案的表面。这种材料还有一个好处，它能经受次级反应，比如金属化或自组装的单层形成，从而扩大了其应用范围。
原始出处:
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Science 19 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5849, pp. 426 - 430
DOI: 10.1126/science.1147241
Mussel-Inspired Surface Chemistry for Multifunctional Coatings
Haeshin Lee,1 Shara M. Dellatore,2 William M. Miller,2,3 Phillip B. Messersmith1,3,4*
We report a method to form multifunctional polymer coatings through simple dip-coating of objects in an aqueous solution of dopamine. Inspired by the composition of adhesive proteins in mussels, we used dopamine self-polymerization to form thin, surface-adherent polydopamine films onto a wide range of inorganic and organic materials, including noble metals, oxides, polymers, semiconductors, and ceramics. Secondary reactions can be used to create a variety of ad-layers, including self-assembled monolayers through deposition of long-chain molecular building blocks, metal films by electroless metallization, and bioinert and bioactive surfaces via grafting of macromolecules.
1 Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
2 Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
3 Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
4 Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: philm@northwestern.edu
