Mild and Selective C–H Activation of COC Microfluidic Channels Allowing Covalent Multifunctional Coatings

Plastics, such as cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), are becoming an increasingly popular material for microfluidics. COC is used, in part, because of its (bio)-chemical resistance. However, its inertness and hydrophobicity can be a major downside for many bioapplications. In this paper, we show the first example of a surface-bound selective C–H activation of COC into alcohol C–OH moieties under mild aqueous conditions at room temperature. The nucleophilic COC–OH surface allows for subsequent covalent attachments, such as of a H-terminated silane. The resulting hybrid material (COC–Si-H) was then modified via a photolithographic hydrosilylation in the presence of ω-functionalized 1-alkenes to form a new highly stable, solvent-resistant hybrid surface.