Novel surface modification technique for chemically inert polymers for medical and biomedical applications

热塑性聚合物，如聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯和聚丙烯，具有柔韧性、耐用性和抗生物降解能力。正是这些特性使这种聚合物适合用于医疗用途，如外科窗帘、缝合线、血管移植物和韧带假体。然而，当这些聚合物的疏水表面使它们与血液接触时，或当它们被植入人体时，可能会导致医疗并发症，如血栓形成。通常，某些特定的应用，如外科窗帘，将需要特殊的功能，如抗菌表面，以减少医院交叉感染的可能性。因此，通过表面性质工程来增加基材聚合物的功能或改善其生物相容性成为医用纺织品、生物材料和生物医学领域的重要课题。这项研究将为化学惰性热塑性聚合物开发一种新的非破坏性、有效和高效的改性技术。具有官能团的聚合物，如羟基，将通过形成互穿网络固定在热塑性聚合物的表面上。为了进一步设计表面性能，在将固定的官能团转化为适当的辅助引发剂或引发剂后，可以使用接枝技术将聚合物刷子结构附着在表面上。将探索用于表征形成的互穿网络的实验技术，以及与固定化效率和改性材料的表面性质相关的结果。这项拟议的研究将导致化学惰性聚合物材料表面改性科学的突破，这对其在医用纺织品、生物材料和医疗器械中的应用至关重要。研究结果也可用于为提供防护设备、医疗器械和生物材料的行业提供技术支持。拟议的工作将导致在聚合物化学、分析化学、医用纺织品和生物材料科学方面培养具有跨学科技能的高素质人才。

Thermoplastic polymers such as poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polypropylene are flexible, resilient, durable, and resist biological degradation. It is these properties that make such polymers desirable for medical uses such as surgical drapes, sutures, vascular grafts and ligament prostheses. However, the hydrophobic surfaces of these polymers can cause medical complications such as thrombosis when their use brings them in contact with blood, or when they are implanted into the human body. Often certain specific applications, such as surgical drapes, will require specialized functions such as antimicrobial surfaces to decrease the possibility of cross-infection in hospitals. Therefore, surface property engineering to either add functions to the substrate polymers or to improve their biocompatibility becomes an important task in the field of medical textiles, biomaterials and biomedical science. The proposed study will develop a novel non-destructive, effective and efficient modification technique for chemically inert thermoplastic polymers. Polymers with functional groups, such as hydroxyls, will be immobilized onto the surfaces of thermoplastic polymers by the formation of an interpenetrating network. To further engineer the surface property, polymer brush architectures can be attached to the surface using a "grafting from" technique after converting the immobilized functional group into proper co-initiator or initiator. Experimental techniques will be explored for the characterization of the formed interpenetrating network and the results correlated to the immobilization efficiency and surface property of the modified materials. The proposed study will lead to a breakthrough in the science of surface modification of chemically inert polymeric materials, which is essential for their applications as medical textiles, biomaterials, and medical devices. The results of the studies can also be used to provide technical support to industries providing protective equipments, medical devices and biomaterials. The proposed work will lead to the training of highly qualified personnel with interdisciplinary skills in Polymer Chemistry, Analytic Chemistry, Medical Textile and Biomaterial Science.