ABSTRACT

Non-Radical-Grafting Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 11.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 References and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Polyolefin materials occur in almost every walk of life. They are inexpensive and nontoxic, and their properties can now be tailored to suit a wide range of applications. However, there are some properties that these materials lack owing to their hydrophobic surfaces. These include compatibility with polar compounds (including other polymers) and adhesion to materials such as fillers, printing inks, and pigments, as well as compatibility with microorganisms and cells that would be important in biological and medical applications. For this reason their chemical structure, or at least the structure of the surfaces of polymer films, needs to be modified by functional groups.1 There are various ways of achieving functionalization. Surface treatment of premolded polypropylene (PP) components with oxygen or CO2 plasma is industrially important but beyond the scope of this chapter. Other approaches are the modification of preformed PP by radical grafting, reactions of endgroups, and copolymerization of propylene with functionalized or functionalizable comonomers.