Amphiphilic Alginate-Based Layer-by-Layer Coatings Exhibiting Resistance against Nonspecific Protein Adsorption and Marine Biofouling.

Amphiphilic coatings are promising materials for fouling-release applications, especially when their building blocks are inexpensive, biodegradable, and readily accessible polysaccharides. Here, amphiphilic polysaccharides were fabricated by coupling hydrophobic pentafluoropropylamine (PFPA) to carboxylate groups of hydrophilic alginic acid, a natural biopolymer with high water-binding capacity. Layer-by-layer (LbL) coatings comprising unmodified or amphiphilic alginic acid (AA*) and polyethylenimine (PEI) were assembled to explore how different PFPA contents affect their physicochemical properties, resistance against nonspecific adsorption (NSA) of proteins, and antifouling activity against marine bacteria (