Formation of pervaporation membranes from polyphosphazenes having hydrophilic and hydrophobic pendant groups: Synthesis and characterization

A series of new polyphosphazene polymers were synthesized using three diffe rent pendant groups with the goal of probing structure-function relationshi ps between pendant group substitution and polymer swelling/water flux throu gh thin dense films. Formation of polymers with relative degrees of hydroph ilicty was probed by varying the stoichiometry of the pendant groups attach ed to the phosphazene backbone: p-methoxyphenol, 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethanol , and o-allylphenol. The polymers in this study were characterized using NM R, thermal methods, and dilute solution light-scattering techniques. These techniques revealed that the polymers were amorphous high polymers (M-w = 1 0(5)-10(7)) with varying ratios of pendant groups as determined by integrat ion of the H-1- and P-31-NMR spectra. Thin dense film membranes were soluti on-cast with azo-bis(cydohexane)carbonitrile included in the matrix and cro sslinked using thermal initiation. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.