High-strength underwater adhesive inspired by post-translational modification of marine organisms

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K14000
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 26030:Composite materials and interfaces-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ejima Hirotaka 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 准教授 (00724543)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 水中接着

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, great attention has been paid to the dihydroxyphenylalanine, which is abundant in mussel's foot proteins, as a key chemical structure to the development of strong underwater adhesives. In this study, we synthesized a series of polymers in which the number of phenolic hydroxyl groups was systematically varied. The correlation between the number of hydroxyl groups and the underwater bonding strength was evaluated using these polymers. As a result, it was revealed that a gallol group having three phenolic hydroxyl groups is a promising building block for strong underwater adhesives.

Free Research Field

高分子材料

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

外科手術においては臓器，組織の接着や局所の止血，体液の流出防止を必要とする場面が数多く存在する．しかし，現状の手術用接着剤は湿潤組織に対する接着強度が十分ではないという課題が残っている．本研究では海洋生物が水中で接着するメカニズムに学び，高強度の水中接着剤の合成に成功した．この過程で高強度な手術用接着剤を設計するために役に立つ新たな分子設計指針が得られた．