S. Tasker et al., MOLECULAR RESOLUTION IMAGING OF DEXTRAN MONOLAYERS IMMOBILIZED ON SILICA BY ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY, Langmuir, 12(26), 1996, pp. 6436-6442
A range of dextrans (5, 10, and 70 kDa) were covalently bound to smoot
h silica slides and porous (500 Angstrom) silica particles with an ext
ernal diameter of 25 mu m. AFM analysis of the slides in air has shown
the presence of discrete, clustered, and in a few regions overlayered
dextran molecules, which exhibit increasing diameter and decreasing p
acking densities with increasing molecular weight. Analysis of 10 and
70 kDa dextran bound to silica particles has revealed surface features
consistent with those of the dextran molecules, superimposed upon the
morphology of the underlying silica particle.