Substrates having modified surface reactivity and antifouling properties in biological reactions

1. A method of functionalizing a silica surface of a sample well, the method comprising:

contacting a sample well having a metal oxide surface and a silica surface with an amphipathic reagent, wherein the amphipathic reagent comprises an alkyl phosphonic acid compound of formula CH 3 (CH 2 ) n PO 3 H 2 , where n is an integer with a value of 1-30, and wherein the amphipathic reagent preferentially binds the metal oxide surface to form a coating layer on the metal oxide surface;

contacting the sample well with a block copolymer, wherein the block copolymer preferentially binds the coating layer on the metal oxide surface and wherein the block copolymer is an A-B-A type block copolymer that comprises an A block and a B block and is a compound of Formula II:

where:

a is an integer with a value of 2-150; and

b is an integer with a value of 10-100;

contacting the sample well with a functionalizing agent that preferentially binds the silica surface to generate a functionalized silica surface, wherein the functionalizing agent comprises a coupling moiety; and

contacting the sample well having the functionalized silica surface with a molecule of interest that is configured to bind the coupling moiety, under conditions suitable to permit binding of the molecule of interest to the coupling moiety, thereby coupling the molecule of interest to the functionalized silica surface, wherein the contacting of the sample well with the molecule of interest occurs subsequent to the contacting of the sample well with the functionalizing agent without an intervening wash step.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrophilic head group of the alkyl phosphonic acid compound is configured to preferentially bind the metal oxide surface and the hydrophobic tail group of the alkyl phosphonic acid compound is configured to preferentially bind the block copolymer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer preferentially binds the B block of the A-B-A type block copolymer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal oxide surface is aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, or tantalum oxide.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionalizing agent comprises a silane compound.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molecule of interest is a polymerizing enzyme.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molecule of interest is a sequencing template complex that comprises a template nucleic acid molecule having a hybridized primer/polymerizing enzyme complex.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molecule of interest preferentially binds to the functionalized silica surface over the metal oxide surface with about 100-fold to about 1000-fold selectivity, about 200-fold to about 800-fold selectivity, about 400-fold to about 600-fold selectivity, or about 1000-fold to about 2000-fold selectivity.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectivity of the molecule of interest for the functionalized silica surface over the metal oxide surface is greater compared to a sample well not contacted with the block copolymer by about 10-fold to about 100-fold, about 50-fold to about 500-fold, about 100-fold to about 1000-fold, or about 200-fold to about 400-fold.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the silane compound comprises mono-ethoxysilane, mono-chlorosilane, dichlorosilane, methoxysilane, di-ethoxysilane, trichlorosilane, or di-ethoxy, methoxysilane.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coupling moiety of the functionalizing agent comprises a biotin molecule, an avidin protein, a streptavidin protein, a lectin protein, or a SNAP-tag.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coupling moiety of the functionalizing agent comprises an amine group, an azido group, a carboxyl group, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group, an alkyne group, or a sulfhydryl group.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amphipathic reagent comprises hexylphosphonic acid, octylphosphonic acid, decylphosphonic acid, dodecylphosphonic acid, polyvinylphosphonic acid, 12-phosphono-1-dodecanesulfonic acid, 10-undecynylphosphonic acid, or heptadecafluorodecylphosphonic acid.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the amphipathic reagent comprises hexylphosphonic acid.

15. The method of claim 4 , wherein the metal oxide surface is titanium oxide.

16. A method of coupling a molecule of interest to a functionalized silica surface, the method comprising:

contacting a functionalized silica surface with a molecule of interest that is configured to bind a coupling moiety of the functionalized silica surface, under conditions suitable to permit binding of the molecule of interest to the coupling moiety, thereby coupling the molecule of interest to the functionalized silica surface, wherein the functionalized silica surface was produced by a method comprising:

contacting a sample well having a metal oxide surface and a silica surface with an amphipathic reagent, wherein the amphipathic reagent comprises an alkyl phosphonic acid compound of formula CH 3 (CH 2 ) n PO 3 H 2 , where n is an integer with a value of 1-30, and wherein the amphipathic reagent preferentially binds the metal oxide surface to form a coating layer on the metal oxide surface;

contacting the sample well with a block copolymer, wherein the block copolymer preferentially binds the coating layer on the metal oxide surface, and wherein the block copolymer is an A-B-A type block copolymer that comprises an A block and a B block and is a compound of Formula II:

where:

a is an integer with a value of 2-150; and

b is an integer with a value of 10-100; and

contacting the sample well with a functionalizing agent that preferentially binds the silica surface to thereby produce the functionalized silica surface, wherein the functionalizing agent comprises a coupling moiety;

wherein the contacting of the functionalized silica surface with the molecule of interest occurs subsequent to the contacting of the sample well with the functionalizing agent without an intervening wash step.