Ambivalent Adhesives: Combining Biomimetic Cross-Linking with Antiadhesive Oligo(ethylene glycol)

Oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) exhibit several desirable properties including biocompatibility and resistance to fouling by protein adsorption. Still needed are surgical glues and orthopedic cements, among several other materials, that display similar traits. However, the very lack of interactions with other molecules that prevents toxicity and fouling also makes adhesion elusive. In work described here the cross-linking chemistry of marine mussel adhesive is combined with OEG to make a family of terpolymers. The effect of polymer composition upon bulk adhesion was examined. High strength bonding was found with a subset of the polymers containing appreciable OEG content. These structure–property insights may help the design of new materials for which the properties of OEG and high strength adhesion are both being sought.