Hybrid molecular brushes with chitosan backbone: facile synthesis and surface grafting.

We developed a facile route toward amphiphilic hybrid molecular brushes (HMB) with chitosan backbone and concurrently grafted chains of poly(acrylamide) and polystyrene. The grafting occurs through amino groups of chitosan; no extra modification of chitosan is required. The kinetic and molecular weight characteristics of the primary molecular brush CHI-graft-PAAm are studied.