Thiol–ene
radical coupling is increasingly used for the
biofunctionalization of biomaterials. Thiol–ene chemistry presents
interesting features that are particularly attractive for platforms
requiring specific reactions with peptides or proteins and the patterning
of cells, such as reactivity in physiological conditions and photoactivation.
In this work, we synthesized alkene-functionalized (allyl and norbornene
residues) antifouling polymer brushes (based on poly(oligoethylene
glycol methacrylate)) and studied thiol–ene coupling with a
series of thiols including cell adhesive peptides RGD and REDV. The
adhesion of umbilical
vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to these interfaces was studied and
highlighted the absence of specific integrin engagement to REDV, in
contrast to the high level of cell spreading observed on RGD-functionalized
polymer brushes. This revealed that α<sub>4</sub>β<sub>1</sub> integrins (binding to REDV sequences) are not sufficient
on their own to sustain HUVEC spreading, in contrast to α<sub>v</sub>β<sub>3</sub> and α<sub>5</sub>β<sub>1</sub> integrins. In addition, we photopatterned peptides at the surface
of poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (POEGMA) brushes and characterized
the quality of the resulting arrays by epifluorescence microscopy
and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This allowed the formation of cell
patterns and demonstrated the potential of thiol–ene based
photopatterning for the design of cell microarrays
