Assembling multilayers of polymerizable surfactant on a surface of a solid material

A method for the stepwise coating of a hydrophobic solid substrate with a polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant to provide a multilayer assembly on a surface of the hydrophobic solid substrate comprising the steps of:

• (a) depositing a polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant in an aqueous solution on a surface or a coated surface of the hydrophobic solid substrate;
• (b) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (a) to form a coating comprising a hydrophilic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the solid substrate;
• (c) depositing a polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant in a non-polar solvent systwem on the coated hydrophilic surface of the solid substrate of step (b) wherein said surfactant may be the same or different from the surfactant of step (a);
• (d) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (c) to form an additional coating on the substrate comprising a hydrophobic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the solid substrate.

A method for the stepwise coating of a solid organic polymer substrate with a polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant to provide a multilayer assembly on a surface of the polymer substrate comprising the steps of:

• (a) depositing a polymerizable surfactant in an aqueous solution on a surface of the polymer substrate;
• (b) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (a) to form a coating comprising a hydrophilic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the polymer substrate;
• (c) depositing a polymerizable surfactant in a non-polar solvent system on the coated-hydrophilic layer of the polymer substrate of step (b);
• (d) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (c) to form an additional coating comprising a hydrophobic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the polymer substrate;
• wherein the polyfunctional surfactant used in any of sequential steps (a) or (c) is the same or different and is a polyfunctional phospholipid having at least two polymerizable groups in separate acid moieties and the solid organic polymer substrate is a polyolefin.

A method for the stepwise coating of low density polyethylene film with a polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant to provide a multilayer assembly on a surface of the polymer substrate comprising the steps of:

• (a) depositing a polymerizable surfactant in an aqueous solution on a surface of the polyethylene film;
• (b) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (a) to form a coating comprising a hydrophilic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the polyethylene film;
• (c) depositing a polymerizable surfactant in a non-polar solvent system on the coated-hydrophilic layer of the polyethylene film of step (b);
• (d) polymerizing the surfactant deposited in step (c) to form an additional coating comprising a hydrophobic layer of polymerized surfactant on the surface of the polyethylene film;
• wherein the polyfunctional polymerizable surfactant used in any of sequential steps (a) or (c) is the same or different and is selected from the group consisting of:
• ##STR14##