The ability of initiated chemical vapor deposition to finely tune crosslinking densities in copolymer thin films has been used to develop a functional, reactive hydrogel system. The system consists of poly[maleic anhydride-co-dimethyl acrylamide-co-di (ethylene glycol) divinyl ether] films covalently attached to silicon substrates using the coupling agent 3-aminopropylethoxydimethylsilane. The swelling of the films in water is pH-dependent, with a maximum swelling ratio of 11 at pH = 8. The hydrogel was also functionalized with 0.1 M cysteamine solutions in 2-propanol for 30 min to convert 97% of the anhydride functional groups to carboxylic acid and amide functionalities, confirmed by XPS and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The functionalization yielded free thiol groups at the surface, which were used to attach CdSe/ZnS core-shell semiconductor nanoparticles to the hydrogels. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.