Surface modifications of several reactive preformed polymeric materials, such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) are described. Those modifications are conducted via direct synthetic reactions on polymer surfaces. This research has explored surface modifications of several preformed polymeric materials, such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) films. These modifications are conducted via direct synthetic reactions on polymers' surfaces. In the modification of PMMA and PET surfaces, lithiated $alpha,omega$-diaminopoly(alkene oxide) oligomers were used for aminolyses of ester groups on those polymers' surfaces. Synthetic methods to dehydrochlorinate PVC using lithiated $alpha,omega$-diaminopoly(alkene oxide) oligomers were applied to surface modify PVC film's surface. Grafting copolymerization onto polymers like poly(vinyl chloride) and polyethylene (PE) was also studied. This heterogeneous modification chemistry uses residual unsaturations (C=C) as graft site precursors. A class of surface characterization techniques including contact angle goniometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and UV-visible spectroscopy have been used to chemically and topologically study product surfaces.
