Grafting-from methods ATRP/RAFT polymerization method

There are additional factors that may reduce functionality which are specific to the various polymerization processes and the particular chemistries used for end group transformation. These are mentioned in the following sections. This section also details methods for removing dormant chain ends from polymers formed by NMP, ATRP and RAFT. This is sometimes necessary since the dormant chain-end often constitutes a weak link that can lead to impaired thermal or photochemical stability (Sections 8.2.1 and 8.2.2). Block copolymers, which may be considered as a form of end-functional polymer, and the use of end-functional polymers in the synthesis of block copolymers are considered in Section 9.8. The use of end functional polymers in forming star and graft polymers is dealt with in Sections 9.9.2 and 9.10.3 respectively. 

Among the different CRP techniques that are available, surface-initiated ATRP and RAFT have been most extensively used to grow polymer brushes from the membrane and pore surfaces [129,139-143]. Both methods can tailor and manipulate the structure and length of the grafted chains on the membrane and pore surfaces, which in return, are able to tune the pore size and pore size distribution to avoid pore blocking. Furthermore, ATRP and RAFT can produce more uniform and smoother surfaces, which have a more prominent effect on protein adsorption and fouling during the microfiltration or ultrafiltration process, than conventional radical polymerization. 

---