Fabrication of antifouling coatings through 4-benzoylbenzoic acid-mediated dextran grafting

Antifouling coatings based on natural polymers demonstrate significant advantages in biocompatibility over traditional chemical coatings, showing broad application prospects for biomedical device surface modifications. In this work, a hydrogel coating was fabricated by grafting 4-benzoylbenzoic acid onto dextran to mediate its embedding into the substrate surface, thereby immobilizing the hydroxyl groups of dextran on the substrate to form a dense hydrophilic layer. We systematically characterized the protein adsorption resistance and cell adhesion resistance of this coating strategy, and utilized these properties to achieve tumor malignancy screening of cancer cells. The coating with the most stable antifouling performance (benzophenone-dextran, 8.3–11.6 % grafting rate) was subsequently applied to PES membrane surfaces, demonstrating excellent anticoagulant properties and hemocompatibility.