A degradable polydopamine coating based on disulfide-exchange reaction

Although the programmed degradation of biocompatible films finds applications in various fields including biomedical and bionanotechnological areas, coating methods have generally been limited to be substrate-specific, not applicable to any kinds of substrates. In this paper, we report a dopamine derivative, which allows for both universal coating of various substrates and stimuli-responsive film degradation, inspired by mussel-adhesive proteins. Two dopamine moieties are linked together by the disulfide bond, the cleavage of which enables the programmed film degradation. Mechanistic analysis of the degradable films indicates that the initial cleavage of the disulfide linkage causes rapid uptake of water molecules, hydrating the films, which leads to rapid degradation. Our substrate-independent coating of degradable films provides an advanced tool for drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, and anti-fouling strategies.