Integration of RAFT polymerization and click chemistry to fabricate PAMPS modified macroporous polypropylene membrane for protein fouling mitigation

• Published in: Journal of colloid and interface science 2014-12, Vol.435 (435), p.43-50
• Main Authors: Wang, Yun, Wang, Li-Li, He, Xiao-Chun, Zhang, Zi-Jun, Yu, Hai-Yin, Gu, Jia-Shan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2-Acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid; Alkynes; Applied sciences; Azides - chemistry; Chemistry; Click Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Exact sciences and technology; Exchange resins and membranes; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Fouling; General and physical chemistry; Grafting; Macroporous polypropylene membrane; Membrane surface modification; Membranes; Membranes, Artificial; Molecular Structure; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymerization; Polypropylenes; Polypropylenes - chemistry; Porosity; Porous materials; Proteins; Proteins - chemistry; Rafts; Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Surface Properties; Technology of polymers
• ISSN: 0021-9797; 1095-7103
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2014.08.013

[Display omitted] •Clickable membrane prepared by photo bromination and SN2 nucleophilic substitution.•Clickable PAMPS with controllable chain length was prepared by RAFT polymerization.•Coupling PAMPS to membrane by Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition click chemistry.•Membrane performance was improved by PAMPS coupling. A copper (I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) grafting-to method was used to tether alkyne-terminated poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid) (alkyne-PAMPS) to the azide functionalized macroporous polypropylene membrane (MPPM-N3). Alkyne-PAMPS was synthesized by the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) of AMPS with an alkyne-terminated trithiocarbonate served as a chain transfer agent. The combination of RAFT polymerization with click chemistry to graft polymer to the surface of polypropylene membrane produced relatively high grafting density and controllable grafting chain length. The structure and composition of the modified and unmodified MPPM surfaces were analyzed by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was employed to observe the morphological changes on the membrane surface. The permeation performances were tested by the filtration of protein dispersion. The experimental results show that with the grafting degree going up, the relative flux reduction decreases, while the relative flux recovery ratio increases, and the protein fouling is obviously mitigated by tethering PAMPS to the membrane surface. The modified membranes can be potentially applied for fouling reduction during the filtration of proteins.