Polypropylene modified with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate-g-2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorycholine and its hemocompatibility

Polypropylene (PP) was modified with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) by solution radical grafting to introduce active hydroxyl groups on polypropylene backbone (PP-g-HEA). Then the biomimic monomer, 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorycholine (MPC), was grafted onto the surface of PP-g-HEA film (PP-g-HEA-g-MPC) by redox graft polymerizations with ceric(IV) ammonium nitrate as an initiator. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the HEA and MPC were introduced onto PP molecular chains and the copolymer, PP-g-HEA-g-MPC were formed. The water contact angle measurements demonstrated that the final modified PP film exhibited a better hydrophilic surface compared to the neat PP film. The platelets adhesion on the neat PP, PP-g-HEA and PP-g-HEA-g-MPC film was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that a large number of platelets were adhered and activated on the surface of neat PP and PP-g-HEA films, while the number of platelets on PP-g-HEA-g-MPC surface was decreased remarkably. The result revealed that the introduction of poly(MPC) onto the PP surface improved the hemocompatibility of PP substantially.