Preparation, characterization and application of zwitterionic polymers and membranes: current developments and perspective

Abstract

Because of their unique pendant‐side chain structures and excellent properties, zwitterionic polymers and membranes, especially zwitterionic hybrids, have attracted increasing interest in recent years. Presently, they can be potentially applied in such fields as nonlinear optical systems, ionic conduction, biomedical processing and chemical separation. In view of their significance to academia and industrial processes, this review gives a brief summary of current developments in the preparation, characterization and potential application of zwitterionic polymers and membranes. Novel approaches to prepare zwitterionic hybrids are highlighted. The present state and future perspective are also discussed. Hopefully, this review can promote the understanding of zwitterionic hybrid polymers and membranes. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry

Structures and Synthesis of Zwitterionic Polymers

“…In particular in the case of primary and secondary amines, the reaction of -butyrolactone will anyhow result in ring opening acylation to create amides instead of amines. Similarly, claims of successful alkylation of tertiary amides by sultones and lactones to produce zwitterionic sites [55], must be questioned, because of the negligible nucleophilicity of amides as well as the instability of the postulated adducts. The limitations of zwitterion synthesis via hetero-Michael addition are similar.…”

“…Note that occasional claims about ring opening alkylation by -butyrolactone (Scheme 7, m = 3) [55,80] must be taken with great care, as they are most probably erroneous. In particular in the case of primary and secondary amines, the reaction of -butyrolactone will anyhow result in ring opening acylation to create amides instead of amines.…”

“…A number of the large reviews have mostly descriptive character, confining themselves to an enumeration of the literature published [52,53]. The majority of reviews dealing with polyzwitterions have focused on one specific aspect, such as synthetic phosholipid polymers [21,[29][30][31][32]54], membranes [55], or on ultralow-fouling behaviour [27,38]. In particularly, the synthesis of polyzwitterions has been hardly treated systematically, as shall be done here.…”

Preparation of zwitterionic hybrid polymer and its application for the removal of heavy metal ions from water

“…Recently, some efforts were made to prepare and characterize zwitterionic hybrid polymer and membranes in our laboratory [8,[10][11][12]. In the previous articles [8,10,11], two new routes to zwitterionic hybrid polymers or membranes were put forward.…”

Synthesis and Solution Properties of Zwitterionic Copolymer of Acrylamide with 3-[(2-Acrylamido)dimethylammonio]propanesulfonate

“…1,2 There are considerable literatures on the synthesis and aqueous solution properties of random linear zwitterionic copolymer. The synthesis and characterization of diblock copolymer were not accomplished until the 1970s.…”