Adhesion Control of Branched Catecholic Polymers by Acid Stimulation

Biomimetic material design is a useful method for producing new functional materials. In recent years, catecholic polymers inspired from the adhesion mechanism of marine organisms have attracted attention. Here, we demonstrated the preparation of catecholic polymers by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of an acetonide-protected catecholic monomer, that is, N-(2-(2,2-dimethylbenzo-1,3-dioxol-5-yl)ethyl)-acrylamide (DDEA). By selecting the specific RAFT reagents, well-defined branched PDDEA and linear PDDEA were obtained. These PDDEA samples showed stronger adhesion strength after deprotection by acid stimulation compared with that before deprotection. In addition, we demonstrated the adhesion control of synthetic polymers by photoirradiation in the presence of photoacid generators, which decompose under light and release an acid.