Investigation of aminotrimethoxysilanes and organic acids functionalized surface interactions: Theoretical and atomic force microscopy studies

Silane compounds provide many applications in biotechnology field. Chemically adsorbed silanes with reactive terminal groups are used for fabrication of functional material, which can serve as a model substrate for fundamental studies of different surface interactions or as a platform for further chemical reactions.In this work, silane compounds with amine groups were the area of interest. The studies were focused on investigation of amine group interaction with different acid groups. The interactions were probed using atomic force microscope operating in force spectroscopy mode. An atomic force microscope gold tip, functionalized with thiol compounds, served as acid-terminated surface. Interactions at interfaces between the silane self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and the thiol SAM were measured in liquid environment. The results of the measurements were set against the theoretical studies performed by AM1d and PM5 semi-empirical methods. Moreover, prior to chemical force spectroscopy measurements the silane films coverage quality was studied as well. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and atomic force microscope served as control equipment.