Covalently immobilized crown ethers onto polysulfone membranes as materials for sensors

In order to combine the advantages of polysulfone (PSf) as a membrane material to that of crown ethers as complexant molecules, this paper presents the synthesis and characterization of new functionalized polysulfone membranes with crown ethers, as a potential material for sensors. The strong point of this material consists in covalent chemical bonding between crown ethers and polysulfone. This was realized by used of formylated polysulfone and amino crown ether. The above synthesized membrane was structurally characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis.