Functionalized polymers by chemical surface modification

Surface-modified polymers are of substantial importance in many diverse aspects of modern technology, and whilst there are a number of existing physical and chemical methods for surface modification of polymers, the frequent requirement for significant infrastructure, harsh reaction conditions and limitation to specific polymer types led us to consider alternative chemical methods. A desirable alternative would be that amenable to a large range of polymers, permitting direct chemical modification under mild conditions and using inexpensive reagents. We report here that functionalized diarylcarbenes are excellent reactive intermediates suitable for direct surface modification of a range of organic and inorganic materials, and we have illustrated that this can be used for the introduction of visible and fluorescent chromophores, biocidal and biocompatible function.