Patent ID: 8541060

Claim:
A method of modifying a substrate surface, the method comprising contacting at least a portion of the substrate with an alkaline solution under oxidative conditions, the solution comprising a surface-modifying agent according to Formula I: wherein each of R 1 , R 3 , R 4 and R 5 is independently selected from the group consisting of a thiol, a primary amine, a secondary amine, a nitrile, an aldehyde, an imidazole, an azide, a halide, a hydrogen, a hydroxyl, a carboxylic acid, an aldehyde; wherein R 2 is NH 2 ; wherein x ranges from 0 to 10 and wherein y ranges from 0 to 10, provided that x or y is at least 1; wherein the substrate surface is modified when the surface-modifying agent reacts to form a polymeric coat on the substrate surface.