END-GRAFTING OF (CO)POLYGLUTAMATES AND (CO)POLYASPARTATES ONTO SI-OH CONTAINING SURFACES

(Co)polyglutamates and (co)polyaspartates were grafted onto microparti culate silica and flat Si-OH containing surfaces, by initiating the N- carboxyl anhydrides of the corresponding cr-amino acids with an immobi lized primary amine. The copolymers were prepared by polymerization of mixtures of N-carboxy anhydrides. In the case of microparticulate sil ica, all the available monomer was converted into grafted polymer, whe reas in the case of flat surfaces, non-grafted material was formed as well. The grafted products were identified with infra-red spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.