Bacterial cellulose-chitosan membrane grafted with theophylline-imprinted copolymer by free radical copolymerization

Abstract

In this research, benzyl diethyldithiocarbamate was immobilized on a bacterial cellulose-chitosan membrane via a silane coupler. This treated membrane was grafted with theophylline-imprinted copolymer of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate by ultraviolet irradiation. The highest degree of grafting obtained was 0.3334% for r (weight ratio of monomers to bacterial cellulose-chitosan membrane) equal to 3.244 in mmol/ml. The molecularly imprinted polymer-bacterial cellulose-chitosan membrane was prepared by using 0.5% chitosan solution containing 15.0% polyethylene glycol and evaporating the solution for 2.5 hours after coating at room temperature. The relative flux of 3.69 L/m2.h at 12.5 bar was obtained. The average pore diameter was 135 Å in dry state and 404 Å in wet state. Physical properties and morphology of the molecularly imprinted membrane were examined. The chitosan and polyethylene glycol contents in the chitosan solution had a significant effect on porosity of the membrane and the flow rate of water through the membrane. ? rel?t?vely l?rge flow r?te through the membr?ne w?th ? st?ble co?t?ng of ch?tos?n membrane was observed ?t optimized evaporation time. The tensile strength provided by the synthesized membrane was larger than the plain bacterial cellulose support, in both wet and dry states.