Patent ID: 7045171

Claim:
A method for producing a supported membrane comprising the steps of: (i) providing a substrate which is selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, platinum, plastic, polymer and glass, and wherein the substrate has a coating of a monolayer having reactive functional groups, wherein the monolayer comprises a thioalkyl compound or a silane compound; (ii) activating said reactive functional groups to form an activated monolayer; (iii) contacting said activated monolayer with a linker compound wherein the linker compound comprises a straight or branched C 10 –C 25 alkyl, alkynyl, alkenyl, aryl, araalkyl, heteroalkyl, heteroalkynyl, heteroalkenyl, heteroaryl, heteroaraalkyl molecule comprising: (a) a terminal functional group that reacts with the activated monolayer; (b) a hydrophilic spacer region; and (c) a membrane adhering region; to form a derivatized monolayer having covalently bonded linker moieties; and (iv) contacting said derivatized monolayer with a membrane solution to produce a supported membrane.