A new approach for membrane modification based on electrochemically mediated living polymerization and self-assembly of N-tert-butyl amide- and β-cyclodextrin-involved macromolecules for blood purification.

We report a convenient, highly efficient, and universal approach for blood-compatible modification of polymer membrane based on the SI-eATRP, RAFT, and self-assembly of N-tert-butyl amide and β-cyclodextrin existed in macromolecules chains. The functional membrane surfaces with any polymer chains of hydrophilic, ionic polymer, and polysaccharide segments, for example, the copolymers of N-vinyl pyrrolidone, sodium p-styrenesulfonate hydrate, and glucose allyl amide, are easily designed and fabricated; and the thickness of polymer brushes are efficiently controlled by polymerization conditions like monomer concentration and initiator amount. As a key bio-plastic, the modified polyethersulfone membrane shows suppressed platelet adhesion, significant decreases in thrombin-antithrombin generation, and the complement activations on C3a and C5a levels compared with pristine polyethersulfone membrane; while the platelet activation (PF4) decreased. Due to the similar groups as heparin-like structure, the modified membrane effectively prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, and prothrombin time. The water contact angle of the modified membrane decreases from 89.2 to 22.3°, and the cytocompatibility of the modified membranes largely enhanced. It could be concluded that the new approach could be widely used for polymer membrane modification, and the mimic heparin-like surface seems to be a promising structure to improve the biocompatibility for blood purification application.