METHOD OF MAKING AND USING MEMBRANE

1 . A process, comprising:

attaching a zwitterion to a polymer or a copolymer, wherein the polymer or copolymer comprises a polyarylene ether or a polyarylene.

2 . The process as defined in claim 1 , wherein attaching comprises contacting the polymer or the copolymer to a solution comprising the zwitterion precursor.

3 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising forming a membrane by phase inversion of the polymer or the copolymer in a polar solvent.

4 . The process as defined in claim 3 , wherein the polar solvent comprises water.

5 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising drawing the polymer or the copolymer into a fiber.

6 . The process as defined in claim 5 , further comprising drawing the polymer or the copolymer into a hollow fiber.

7 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising forming a membrane from the polymer or the copolymer.

8 . The process as defined in claim 1 , wherein the membrane is a filtration membrane, further comprising flowing an aqueous solution through the filtration membrane from a relatively high solute concentration to a solution of relatively low solute concentration in response to a pressure differential across the membrane.

9 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising contacting the membrane with a solute-bearing solution, and the membrane has a solute rejection percentage of greater than 75 percent.

10 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising reacting a nucleophilic monomer and an electrophilic monomer to form a surface layer secured to a surface of the membrane.

11 . The process as defined in claim 10 , wherein reacting comprises covalently bonding the surface layer to the membrane surface.

12 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising blocking a flow of ions through membrane.

13 . The process as defined in claim 12 , wherein blocking a flow of ions through membrane comprises blocking metal ions.

14 . The process as defined in claim 12 , wherein the ions comprise at least one atom of boron or arsenic.

15 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising separating one blood component from another blood component.

16 . The process as defined in claim 1 , further comprising separating one biological fluid component from another biological fluid component.

17 . A process, comprising:

brominating a polyarylene material or a polyarylene ether material to produce a reaction product that is soluble in a polar aprotic solvent;

dissolving the reaction product in the polar aprotic solvent to form a reaction product solution.

18 . The process as defined in claim 17 , further comprising forming a membrane from the reaction product solution.

19 . The process as defined in claim 18 , wherein forming a membrane comprises phase inverting the reaction product solution.

20 . The process as defined in claim 18 , wherein forming a membrane comprises contacting the reaction product solution with a protic solvent.

21 . The process as defined in claim 18 , wherein forming the membrane is nanoporous, ultraporous, or microporous.

22 . The process as defined in claim 18 , further comprising contacting an amine, an amide, or a zwitterion precursor to the membrane.

23 . The process as defined in claim 22 , wherein the amine, the amide, or the zwitterion precursor is selected from the group consisting of acetyl piperazine, oxazolidinone, N,N dimethyl sarcosine, sarcosine dimethylamide, and morpholine.

24 . The process as defined in claim 22 , wherein the amine-containing material is polyethyleneimine.

25 . The process as defined in claim 18 , wherein forming the membrane comprises casting the reaction product solution onto a support structure.

26 . The process as defined in claim 25 , wherein the support structure is a polymeric fabric or a polymeric mesh.

27 . The process as defined in claim 25 , wherein the support structure comprises at least one of nylon, polyphenylene oxide, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyetherimide, polyimide, polysulfone, or polyamide.

28 . The process as defined in claim 18 , further comprising forming a reverse osmosis layer on a surface of the membrane.

29 . The process as defined in claim 28 , wherein forming a reverse osmosis layer comprises:

contacting the membrane surface with an aqeuous solution comprising m-phenylenediamine, triethylamine, and camphorsulfonic acid; and

contacting the membrane surface with a solution of trimesoyl chloride.

30 . The process as defined in claim 17 , wherein the reaction product is a bromomethylated polyarylene ether or bromomethylated polyarylene.

31 . The process as defined in claim 17 , wherein the polar aprotic solvent comprises a dipolar aprotic solvent.

32 . The process as defined in claim 17 , wherein the polar aprotic solvent is selected from the group consisting of dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, and dimethyl sulfoxide.

33 . The process as defined in claim 17 , wherein the reaction product solution does not gel at a 25 percent by weight concentration of the reaction product in the polar aprotic solvent for a time that is greater than 1 hour at room temperature.

34 . A process, comprising:

reducing a polyarylene material or a polyarylene ether material with tri-n-butyltinhydride to form a first reaction product;

capping terminal groups of the first reaction product with benzoyl halide and an alkylamine to form a second reaction product;

methyl brominating the second reaction product with N-bromosuccinimide to form a third reaction product; and

dissolving the third reaction product in a polar aprotic solvent to form a third reaction product solution.

35 . The process as defined in claim 34 , wherein the second reaction product comprises benzoate capped and tri-n-butyltinhydride reduced poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4,-phenylene ether).

36 . The process as defined in claim 34 , further comprising reacting with a zwitterion precursor.