Electrogeneration and characterization of photoactivable films and their application for enzyme grafting

New benzophenone derivatives functionalized by electropolymerizable pyrrole, vinylaniline and indole groups have been synthesized and electrochemically characterized. Upon electrochemical polymerization in acetonitrile, only two photoactivable polypyrrole films were prepared. Although the latter differed in the length of the spacer bridging benzophenone and pyrrole groups, similar photografting properties were obtained under irradiation leading to the anchoring of an alkaline phosphatase monolayer. A mean surface coverage of enzyme, 622 ng cm−2, was reached for the poly(pyrrole-benzophenone) films. The enzyme maintained 63% of its initial activity after 30 days indicating a good stability of the photografted molecule.