New approach to the selection of the surface modification method to control polymer permeability

Criteria that can be used as a basis for the targeted selection of a polyme r and the method of its chemical modification to accomplish low (or preset) permeability with respect to low-molecular-weight substances are analyzed. Systematic experimental studies of the permeability of more than 20 polyme rs with various chemical structures and polymers with their surfaces modifi ed by fluorination, chlorination, sulfonation, and oxidation demonstrated t hat traditional physicochemical characteristics such as solubility paramete r (with allowance for various components of intermolecular interactions) an d surface tension may be applied to establish an interrelation with polymer permeability. The interrelations between permeability and solubility param eters of a chemically modified surface layer and its polymer-analog were re vealed to be similar, which allows us to make a targeted selection of the m ethod of polymer modification.