Thermally induced phase separated azlactone membrane

Abstract

The present invention provides a microporous material or a membrane in which the membrane includes an azlactone moiety which is blended with or grafted to a thermoplastic polymer to provide a porous material having an internal structure characterized by a multiplicity of spaced, randomly disposed, non-uniform shaped, equiaxed particles of the polyazlactone polymer/thermoplastic polymer blends or the azlactone-graft copolymer. Each of the adjacent particles throughout the material are separated from one another to provide said material with a network of interconnected micropores and each of the particles are connected to each other by a plurality of fibrils. In addition to unmodified azlactone membranes, membranes which have been modified by subsequent reaction of the azlactone moiety with a suitable nucleophile are also included within the scope of the present invention. Preferred nucleophiles capable of reacting with an azlactone membrane of this invention include biologically significant nucleophiles such as amines, thiols and alcohols as well as amino acids, nucleic acids and proteins.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.