Bioinspired Polyethersulfone Membrane Design via Blending with Functional Polyurethane

Abstract

Polyurethanes (PUs) are currently considered to be biocompatible materials but limited by a low resistance to thrombus. We therefore design a heparin-like PU (HLPU) to modify polyethersulfone (PES) membranes approaching integrated antifouling and antithrombotic properties by bioinspiration of heparin structure. Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)-HLPU (PVP-HLPU) was synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of VP using PU as a macroinitiator and then sulfonated by concentrated H2SO4. FTIR and NMR results demonstrated the successful synthesis of PVP-HLPU. By incorporation of PVP-HLPU, the cross-sectional structure of PES composite membranes altered from finger-like structure to sponge-like structure resulting in tunable permeability. The increased hydrophilicity verified by water contact angles benefited both the permeability and antifouling property. As a consequence, the composite membranes showed good blood compatibility, including decreased protein adsorption, suppressed platelet adhesion, lowered thrombin-antithrombin III generation, reduced complement activation, and prolonged clotting times. Interestingly, the PVP-capped HLPU showed better blood compatibility compared to polyethyleneglycol-capped and citric acid-capped HLPUs. The results demonstrated the enhanced antifouling and antithrombotic properties of PES hemodialysis membranes by the introduction of functional HLPUs. Also, the proposed method may forward the fabrication of hemocompatible membranes via bioinspired surface design.

Ecofriendly Reduction of Methylene Blue with Polyurethane Catalyst

“…The shoulder of -C=O may appear due to the intermolecular H bonding in polymer structure. These transitions of IR bands strongly established the synthesis of polyurethane sample [6,[16][17][18]. Other noticeable bands in IR spectra of synthesized CPUF were symmetric and antisymmetric bands of aliphatic -CH at 2933 cm -1 and 2855 cm -1 , aromatic C=C stretching band at 1645 cm -1 and 1595 cm -1 , and multiple stretching bands of ester C-O at 1064 cm -1 , 1160 cm -1 , and 1214 cm -1 .…”

Adhesive and Self-Healing Polyurethanes with Tunable Multifunctionality

“…Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Properties. Implanted materials generally cause an immunological response upon entry into the organism, leading to oxidative stress and inflammation [12], which in turn prevents tissue repair [13,54] and causes neointimal hyperplasia or intravascular stenosis [21,55]. This process is closely associated with inflammatory cells, especially macrophages and granulocytes [56].…”

“…Various kinds of manners to functionalize the PU for hemocompatible applications have been suggested [21,22], such as nitric oxide (NO) producing PUs [23], heparinbased PUs [3], phosphorylcholine, and/or fluorine-based PUs [24][25][26]. However, these materials are optimized for a single function with scarce tunability.…”