The Chemistry behind Catechol-Based Adhesion

SAIZ POSEU, JAVIER; MANCEBO-ARACIL, JUAN; NADOR, FABIANA; BUSQUE, FELIX; RUIZ-MOLINA, DANIEL

Angewandte Chemie

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Año: 2019

1433-7851

The wet adhesion of some marine organisms toalmost any kind of surface has aroused increasing interest overrecent decades. Numerous fundamental studies have beenperformed to understand the scientific basis of this behaviour,where catechols have been found to play a key role. Severalnovel bioinspired adhesives and coatings with value-addedperformances have been developed by taking advantage of theknowledge gained from these studies. Excellent reviews of thisissue have been published due to the large amount of interestand generated literature. Nevertheless, no detailed compilationexclusively focused on the complex inner workings of thesematerials exists. Thus, the aim of this work is to review recentinvestigations that elucidate the origin of the strong and versatileadsorption capacities of the catechol moiety and the effects ofextrinsic factors playing important roles in the overall adhesionprocess, such as pH, solvent and the presence of metal ions. Inother words, it is our aim to review in detail the chemistry behindthe astonishing properties of natural and synthetic catecholbasedadhesive materials.