SELECTION OF A PRECURSOR MONOMER FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF AFFINITY LIGANDS ONTO A POROUS MEMBRANE BY RADIATION-INDUCED GRAFT-POLYMERIZATION

A scheme for the coupling of a ligand onto a porous membrane was selec ted based on criteria of permeability of liquid and adsorptivity of pr otein. Two precursor monomers, i.e., acrylic acid (AAc) and glycidyl m ethacrylate (GMA), were grafted onto a porous polyethylene hollow fibr e by radiation-induced graft polymerization. The carboxyl group of the AAc-grafted hollow fibre was reacted with N-hydroxysuccinimide to pro duce a succinimide group as an activated group. The resultant hollow f ibre had a significantly lower liquid flux than the original hollow fi bre, whereas the GMA-grafted hollow fibre retained its original level of liquid permeability when the epoxy group as the activated group was introduced at a sufficiently high density.