Chemoselective attachment of biologically active proteins to surfaces by native chemical ligation

The present work describes our ongoing efforts towards the creation of micro and nano-scaled ordered arrays of protein covalently attached to site-specific chemical linkers patterned by different microlithographic techniques. We present a new and efficient solid-phase approach for the synthesis of chemically modified long alkyl-thiols. These compounds can be used to introduce chemoselective reacting groups onto silicon-based surfaces. We show that these modified thiols can be used for creating nano- and micrometric chemical patterns by using different lithographic techniques. We show that these patterns can react chemoselectively with proteins which have been recombinantly modified to contain complementary chemical groups at specific positions thus resulting in the oriented attachment of the protein to the surface.