Hydrophilic modification of polysulfone via incorporation of poly(oxy-1,4-butanediyl) segments

Abstract

Polysulfone was modified by incorporation of hydrophilic poly(oxy-1,4-butanediyl) [synonyms: poly(tetramethylene ether glycol), PTMG, poly(tetrahydrofuran), poly(THF), poly(tetramethylene oxide)] units into the polysulfone chain resulting in the formation of segmented block copolymers. These block copolymers were prepared by a melt transesterification procedure. The influence of the molecular weights of both, polysulfone and PTMG segments on the solid phase structure, the thermal behavior, the wetting behavior as well as the surface composition of the products was studied. It was shown that the incorporation of hydrophilic PTMG segments leads to a significant hydrophilization of polysulfone that partially results in an enhanced swelling ability.