Use of 2,4,6-pyridinetricarboxylic acid chloride as a novel co-monomer for the preparation of thin film composite polyamide membrane with improved bacterial resistance

• TFC membrane prepared with 2,4,6-pyridinetricarboxylic acid chloride (PTC).
• Higher reactivity of PTC towards MPD observed.
• Distinct difference in surface morphology with reduced roughness seen.
• 102–104 enhancement in antibacterial activity measured.
• Best overall performance found with mixture of PTC and trimesoyl chloride.

The hitherto unreported 2,4,6-pyridinetricarboxylic acid chloride (PTC) was used with/without trimesoyl chloride (TMC) in the interfacial polymerization reaction with meta-phenylene diamine (MPD) to produce a salt-rejecting polyamide coating over polysulphone support. Besides exhibiting higher reactivity towards MPD, the resultant thin film composite (TFC) membrane showed a lower tendency towards bacterial attachment in comparison to the membrane prepared with TMC alone. The best results were obtained with 2:3–1:1 M ratio of PTC to TMC, in as much as the flux was also enhanced and the salt rejection efficiency remained almost unaffected. The membranes were characterized by ATR-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, SEM, AFM, contact angle and zeta potential measurements.