Syntheses and Surface Properties of Polyacrylonitrile-based Copolymer Membranes Containing Sugar Moieties

To improve the hydrophilicity of polyacrylonitrile-based membranes, sugar moieties were incorporated into acrylonitrile-based copolymers via the radical copolymerization of α-allyl glucoside(AG) with acrylonitrile(AN) with 2,2′-azobis-iso-butyronitrile(AIBN) as the initiator in dimethyl sulphoxide(DMSO). It was found that the yield increased with the increase of the initiator concentration and reaction time, while it decreased with the increase of the monomer molar ratio of AG to AN. Raising the AG proportion in the monomer mixture resulted in the increase of the AG content in the copolymer. M_v of the copolymers decreased with increasing the AG monomer fraction in feed. The copolymers were fabricated into dense membranes and their surface properties were studied by means of the water contact angle measurement and platelet adhesion tests. It was found that the static water contact angle on the membrane decreased significantly from 70° to 33° with the increase of the AG content. The adhesive number of platelets on the membrane surface also decreased significantly with increasing AG content in the copolymers. These results demonstrate that the hydrophilicity and biocompatibility of the acrylonitrile-based copolymer membranes could be improved efficiently by the copolymerization of acrylonitrile with vinyl carbohydrates.