Preparation and characterization of covalently bonded biopolymer-polypyrrole hybrid materials

The synthesis of biopolymer-polypyrrole hybrid materials that can possess electrical conducting has been the focus of our laboratory. To date, we have only obtained intimate blends that at best, display ionic bonding interactions. In this paper we report on the preparation of biopolymer-polypyrrole hybrid materials with covalent bonding between the two polymer chains. This has been achieved by preparing several functionalized pyrrole monomers, followed by covalently bonding of these monomer to the biopolymer and finally, polymerizing the pyrrole monomer. The pyrrole monomers used were 4-(3-pyrrolyl)oxobutyric acid, 4-(3-pyrrolyl)butyric acid, 3-(3-pyrrolyl)propylamine and the biopolymers were collagen and chitosan. FTIR data show the presence of covalent bonding between the two polymer chains.