Preparation and characteristics of chitosan-g-PDMS copolymer

Summary Chitosan-g-poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) copolymer was prepared by grafting PDMS prepolymer onto chitosan. PDMS prepolymer was prepared by ionic ring opening polymerization of octamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D₄) using n-buthyl-lithium (BuLi). The tensile strength and elongation of chitosan-g-PDMS copolymer were mostly constant regardless of PDMS prepolymer grafting %. While critical surface energy of chitosan is about 32 dyne/cm, that of chitosan-g-PDMS copolymer was a little decreased to 25∼29 dyne/cm by grafting PDMS onto chitosan. Received: 17 July 1998/Revised version: 5 October 1998/Accepted: 2 November 1998