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

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.