TY - JOUR A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Jäger, Christian A1 - Hatami, Soheil A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Hoffmann, Angelika A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Scope and limitations of surface functional quantification methods: exploratory study with poly(acrylic acid)-grafted micro- and nanoparticles N2 - The amount of grafted poly(acrylic acid) on poly(methyl methacrylate) micro- and nanoparticles was quantified by conductometry, 13C solid-state NMR, fluorophore labeling, a supramolecular assay based on high-affinity binding of cucurbit[7]uril, and two colorimetric assays based on toluidine blue and nickel complexation by pyrocatechol violet. The methods were thoroughly validated and compared with respect to reproducibility, sensitivity, and ease of use. The results demonstrate that only a small but constant fraction of the surface functional groups is accessible to covalent surface derivatization independently of the total number of surface functional groups, and different contributing factors are discussed that determine the number of probe molecules which can be bound to the polymer surface. The fluorophore labeling approach was modified to exclude artifacts due to fluorescence quenching, but absolute quantum yield measurements still indicate a major uncertainty in routine fluorescence-based surface group quantifications, which is directly relevant for biochemical assays and medical diagnostics. Comparison with results from protein labeling with streptavidin suggests a porous network of poly(acrylic acid) chains on the particle surface, which allows diffusion of small molecules (cutoff between 1.6 and 6.5 nm) into the network. KW - Polymers KW - Surface groups KW - Quantification KW - Fluorescence PY - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/ja302649g SN - 0002-7863 SN - 1520-5126 VL - 134 IS - 19 SP - 8268 EP - 8276 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-26002 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dietrich, Paul A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Holzweber, Markus A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Lippitz, Andreas A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Unger, Wolfgang T1 - Surface analytical study of poly(acrylic acid)-grafted microparticles (beads): characterization, chemical derivatization, and quantification of surface carboxyl groups N2 - We report a surface analytical study of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microparticles (beads) with a grafted shell of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) with thicknesses up to 4 nm using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. These polymer microparticles were analyzed before and after reaction of the surface carboxyl (CO2H) groups with 2,2,2-trifluoroethylamine (TFEA) to gain a better understanding of methods with use of covalently bound probe molecules for surface group analysis. The results obtained with chemical derivatization XPS using TFEA are discussed in terms of surface quantification of reactive CO2H groups on these PAA-coated microparticles. A labeling yield of about 50% was found for TFEA-derivatized particles with amounts of surface-grafted CO2H groups of 99 µmol/g or more, which is consistent with predicted reaction yields for homogeneously dispersed PAA hydrogels. KW - Polymer microparticles KW - Poly(acrylic acid)-grafted microparticles KW - Beads KW - XPS KW - SEM KW - NEXAFS KW - Surface analysis KW - Fluorine labeling PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp505519g SN - 1932-7447 SN - 1089-5639 VL - 118 IS - 35 SP - 20393 EP - 20404 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-31326 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heise, C. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Wettmarshausen, Sascha A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian T1 - Plasma-brominated cyclo-olefin polymer slides: Suiitable macroinitiators for activator regenerated by electron transfer/atom radical transfer polymerization N2 - Activators regenerated by electron transfer–atom radical transfer polymerization (ATRP) as a controlled living polymerization are distinguished by their acceptance of small amounts of transition-metal complexes and oxygen and by their tolerance of reducing agents at a high concentration. The precondition of all ATRP applications is the use of homolytic or heterolytic cleavable halides as a dormant species; this allows the propagation of monomer chains. Hence, alkyl bromides are slightly cleavable and are the preferred initiators for ATRP. The bromination of polymer slides used as macroinitiators was carried out under gentle bromoform plasma conditions. This led to an oxidation-resistant stable bromine layer. More than 20 bromines per 100 carbons on the polymer scaffold were permanently bound to the substrate after plasma treatment. The resulting amounts of secondary and tertiary bromines on the polymer scaffold exhibited a suitable macroinitiator concentration for the surface-initiated polymerization of methyl methacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate. KW - Copolymers KW - Functionalization of polymers KW - Grafting KW - Monolayers and polymer brushes KW - Radical polymerization PY - 2014 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/app.40662/full U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/APP.40662 SN - 0021-8995 SN - 1097-4628 VL - 131 IS - 16 SP - 40662-1 EP - 40662-10 PB - Wiley InterScience CY - Hoboken, NJ AN - OPUS4-30577 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Hoffmann, Angelika A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Simple colorimetric method for quantification of surface carboxy groups on polymer particles N2 - We present a novel, simple, and fast colorimetric method to quantify the total number of carboxy groups on polymer microparticle and nanoparticle surfaces. This method exploits that small divalent transition metal cations (M2+ = Ni2+, Co2+, Cd2+) are efficiently bound to these surface functional groups, which allows their extraction by a single centrifugation step. Remaining M2+ in the supernatant is subsequently quantified spectrophotometrically after addition of the metal ion indicator pyrocatechol violet, for which Ni2+ was identified to be the most suitable transition metal cation. We demonstrate that the difference between added and detected M2+ is nicely correlated to the number of surface carboxy groups as determined by conductometry, thereby affording a validated measure for the trueness of this procedure. The variation coefficient of ~5% found in reproducibility studies underlines the potential of this novel method that can find conceivable applications for the characterization of different types of poly(carboxylic acid)-functionalized materials, e.g., for quality control by manufacturers of such materials. KW - Polymer surface KW - Complexometry KW - Quantification KW - Pyrocatechol violet PY - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/ac2007619 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 83 IS - 12 SP - 4970 EP - 4974 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-23892 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Hoffmann, Angelika A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantification of surface functional groups on polymer microspheres by supramolecular host-guest interactions N2 - We introduce a method to determine the number of accessible functional groups on a polymer microsphere surface based on the interaction between the macrocyclic host cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) and a guest reacted to the microsphere surface. After centrifugation, CB7 in the supernatant is quantified by addition of a fluorescent dye. The difference between added and detected CB7 affords the number of accessible surface functional groups. KW - Cucurbituril KW - Acridine orange KW - Fluorescence KW - Polymer surface KW - Surface modification KW - Quantification PY - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cc11692d SN - 0022-4936 SN - 0009-241x SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548x VL - 47 IS - 27 SP - 7842 EP - 7844 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-24034 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Carl, Peter A1 - Schedler, U. T1 - Mastering the Challenge of Fluorescence Intensity Calibration N2 - The calibration of fluorescence signals in assays as well as in biological systems is a key requirement. Especially for quantitative studies of living cells, e.g. expression of biomolecules the generation of concentration-proportional analytical statements obtained by the fluorescence intensity plays a significant role. This also applies for cell assays like immunofluorescence assays. Also, the determination of local concentrations of target proteins within cells or within their environment is a major challenge in modern biology. Proper calibration of the fluorescence imaging systems is the prerequisite to ensure that test results from different instruments and different test environments are comparable. The existing calibration solutions for fluorescence imaging systems, however, mostly depend on simple instrument calibration without reference to absolute physical standards or with insufficient stability for multiple measurements. In order to obtain the necessary quantitative information, it is required to calibrate both instruments and the corresponding assays, ideally with one calibrating system. We present several new calibration tools for the most commonly used platforms for cytometry, i.e. fluorescence microscope based systems and flow cytometry based systems. They are comprised of ultra-stable fluorophores that are encapsulated in bio- and cell-compatible polymer matrices. Each tool is tailored to the specific requirements of the different read-out platforms. Both re-usable single-color calibration slides for fluorescence microscopes as well as new multi-color calibration beads are presented. The traceability of the calibration tools to international standards and the wide calibration range of the fluorescence intensity are illustrated. They are thus suitable for calibration of the signal over concentration and quantum yield to that of the targets. T2 - DGFZ 26th Annual Meeting CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 05.10.2016 KW - Flow Cytometry KW - Fluoresence KW - Calibration PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37714 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Dietrich, Paul A1 - Hemmann, Felix A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Hoffmann, Angelika A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Jäger, Christian A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Unger, Wolfgang T1 - En route to traceable reference standards for surface group quantifications by XPS, NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy N2 - The fluorine content of polymer particles labelled with 2,2,2-trifluoroethylamine was reliably quantified with overlapping sensitivity ranges by XPS and solid-state NMR. This provides a first step towards reference materials for the metrological traceability of surface group quantifications. The extension of this concept to fluorescence spectroscopy is illustrated. KW - Polymer beads KW - Poly(acrylic acid)-grafted particles KW - XPS KW - SEM KW - Surface analysis KW - Fluorescent dye labeling KW - NMR PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4an02248c SN - 0003-2654 SN - 1364-5528 VL - 140 IS - 6 SP - 1804 EP - 1808 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-32794 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kage, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Linn A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Close spectroscopic look at dye-stained polymer microbeads N2 - Dye-stained micrometer-sized polymer beads are important tools in the life sciences with applications in biomedical, biochemical, and clinical research. Here, bead-based assays are increasingly used, for example, in DNA sequencing and the detection of autoimmune diseases or pathogenic microorganisms. Moreover, stained beads are employed as calibration tools for fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry methods with increasing complexity. To address the requirements concerning the relevant fluorescence features, the spectroscopic properties of representative polymer beads with diameters ranging from about 1 to 10 μm stained with varying concentrations of rhodamine 6G were systematically assessed. The observed dependence of the spectral properties, fluorescence decay kinetics, and fluorescence quantum yields on bead size and dye loading concentration is attributed to different fluorescence characteristics of fluorophores located in the particle core and near-surface dye molecules. Supported by the fluorescence anisotropy measurements, the origin of the observed alteration of fluorescence features is ascribed to a combination of excitation energy transfer and polarity-related effects that are especially pronounced at the interface of the bead and the surrounding medium. The results of our studies underline the need to carefully control and optimize all Parameters that can affect the fluorescence properties of the dye-stained beads. KW - Fluorophore KW - Polymer particles KW - Photophysics KW - Life sciences KW - Standards PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b02546 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 122 IS - 24 SP - 12782 EP - 12791 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-45453 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roloff, Alexander A1 - Nirmalananthan-Budau, Nithiya A1 - Rühle, Bastian A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantification of Aldehydes on Polymeric Microbead Surfaces via Catch and Release of Reporter Chromophores N2 - Aldehyde moieties on 2D-supports or microand nanoparticles can function as anchor groups for the attachment of biomolecules or as reversible binding sites for proteins on cell surfaces. The use of aldehyde-based materials in bioanalytical and medical settings calls for reliable methods to detect and quantify this functionality. We report here on a versatile concept to quantify the accessible aldehyde moieties on particle surfaces through the specific binding and subsequent release of small reporter molecules such as fluorescent dyes and nonfluorescent chromophores utilizing acylhydrazone formation as a reversible covalent labeling strategy. This is representatively demonstrated for a set of polymer microparticles with different aldehyde labeling densities. Excess reporter molecules can be easily removed by washing, eliminating inaccuracies caused by unspecific adsorption to hydrophobic surfaces. Cleavage of hydrazones at acidic pH assisted by a carbonyl trap releases the fluorescent reporters rapidly and quasi-quantitatively and allows for their fluorometric detection at low concentration. Importantly, this strategy separates the signal-generating molecules from the bead surface. This circumvents common issues associated with light scattering and signal distortions that are caused by binding-induced changes in reporter fluorescence as well as quenching dye− dye interactions on crowded particle surfaces. In addition, we demonstrate that the release of a nonfluorescent chromophore via disulfide cleavage and subsequent quantification by absorption spectroscopy gives comparable results, verifying that both assays are capable of rapid and sensitive quantification of aldehydes on microbead surfaces. These strategies enable a quantitative comparison of bead batches with different functionalization densities, and a qualitative prediction of their coupling efficiencies in bioconjugations, as demonstrated in reductive amination reactions with Streptavidin. KW - Fluorescent label KW - Surface group quantification KW - Polymer particle KW - Cleavable linker KW - Catch and release assay PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.8b05515 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 91 IS - 14 SP - 8827 EP - 8834 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-48284 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brunner, Claudia A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Jehle, H. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Novel calibration tools and validation concepts for microarray-based platforms used in molecular diagnostics and food safety control N2 - Commercial platforms consisting of ready-to-use microarrays printed with target-specific DNA probes, a microarray scanner, and software for data analysis are available for different applications in medical diagnostics and food analysis, detecting, e.g., viral and bacteriological DNA sequences. The transfer of these tools from basic research to routine analysis, their broad acceptance in regulated areas, and their use in medical practice requires suitable calibration tools for regular control of instrument performance in addition to internal assay controls. Here, we present the development of a novel assay-adapted calibration slide for a commercialized DNA-based assay platform, consisting of precisely arranged fluorescent areas of various intensities obtained by incorporating different concentrations of a 'green' dye and a 'red' dye in a polymer matrix. These dyes present 'Cy3' and 'Cy5' analogues with improved photostability, chosen based upon their spectroscopic properties closely matching those of common labels for the green and red channel of microarray scanners. This simple tool allows to efficiently and regularly assess and control the performance of the microarray scanner provided with the biochip platform and to compare different scanners. It will be eventually used as fluorescence intensity scale for referencing of assays results and to enhance the overall comparability of diagnostic tests. KW - New reference material KW - Microarray KW - Fluorescence KW - Standard KW - Calibration slide PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8450-z SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 407 IS - 11 SP - 3181 EP - 3191 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-32580 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -