Laboratory-scale mass production of a multi-micropatterned grafted surfacewith different polymer regions

In this article, we demonstrate laboratory-scale mass production of a regio nally precise multi-micropatterned surface photo-graft-copolymerized with t hree water-soluble monomers based on the photochemistry of an iniferter, wh ich means that it acts as an initiator, a transfer agent and a terminator, benzyl N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate. The surface was semi-automatically prepa red using a combination of a custom-designed irradiation apparatus installe d with a motor-controlled stage for a substrate and three photomasks with d ifferent line-patterned slits (number of slits 20, width 500 mu m, length 1 0 mm), and carbon dioxide laser cutting apparatus. A particular region of p oly(styrene-co-vinylbenzyl N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate) coated on a PET film was irradiated in a particular aqueous monomer solution while moving the i rradiated portion stepwise after irradiation through each line of the photo mask. Photo-graft-copolymerization was carried out sequentially with acryli c acid sodium salt (AANa), N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]acrylamide methiodide (DMAPAAm), and acrylamide (AAm) using differently patterned photomasks. Ch aracterization of surface elemental distribution by X-ray photoelectron spe ctroscopy (XPS), and light microscopic visualization by dye staining reveal ed a microprocessed surface with 20 sets of micropatterns, each of which ha d three line regions grafted with three different polymers. The irradiation of a carbon dioxide laser manipulated via computer-aided design (CAD) soft ware onto the microprocessed surface resulted in automatic circular cutting for each set of micropatterns to mass-produce multi-micropatterned substra tes for the study of substrate-dependent endothelial cell responses. (C) 20 00 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.