Thiophene-Based Trimers for In-Vivo Electronic Functionalization of Tissues

Daniele Mantione (1, 2) , Emin Istif (1, 2) , Gwennael Dufil (3) , Lorenzo Vallan (1, 2) , Daniela Parker (3) , Cyril Brochon (2, 1) , Eric Cloutet (2, 1) , Georges Hadziioannou (2, 1) , Magnus Berggren (3) , Eleni Stavrinidou (3) , Eleni Pavlopoulou (1, 2)

1 LCPO - Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques
2 Team 4 LCPO : Polymer Materials for Electronic, Energy, Information and Communication Technologies
3 Department of Science and Technology - Laboratory of Organic Electronics [Norrköping, Sweden]

Electronic materials that can self-organize in-vivo and form functional components along the tissue of interest can result in seamless integration of the bioelectronic interface. Previously we presented in-vivo polymerization of the conjugated oligomer ETE-S in plants, forming conductors along the plant structure. The EDOT-thiophene-EDOT trimer with a sulfonate side group polymerized due to the native enzymatic activity of the plant and integrated within the plant cell wall. Here we present the synthesis of three different conjugated trimers based on thiophene and EDOT or purely EDOT trimers that are able to polymerize enzymatically in physiological pH in-vitro as well as in-vivo along the roots of living plants. We show that by modulating the backbone and the side chain we can tune the electronic properties of the resulting polymers as well as their localization and penetration within the root. Our work paves the way for rational design of electronic materials that can self-organize in vivo for spatially-controlled electronic functionalization of living tissue.

Mots clés: EDOT; conducting polymers; enzymatic polymerization; plant mediated polymerization; bioelectronics; tissue engineering

Domaines: Polymères

Daniele Mantione, Emin Istif, Gwennael Dufil, Lorenzo Vallan, Daniela Parker, et al.. Thiophene-Based Trimers for In-Vivo Electronic Functionalization of Tissues. ACS Applied Electronic Materials, 2020, ⟨10.1021/acsaelm.0c00861⟩. ⟨hal-03038945⟩