Asymmetric membranes were fabricated from acrylonitrile copolymers containing sugar moieties, poly(acrylonitrile-co-alpha-allyl glucoside) (PANCAG) copolymers, which were synthesized by water-phase precipitation copolymerization process. The morphologies and the surface properties as well as the permeation performance of the membranes were studied by pure water contact angle, protein adsorption, platelets adhesion, cell attachment, water flux, and dextran retention measurements respectively. It was found that, with the increase of alpha-allyl glucoside (AG) content in PANCAG copolymer, the macrovoid size in the cross-section of the membrane decreases and the membrane surface smoothes. The static water contact angle of the membrane surface decreases from 68.2 +/- 3.5 to 36.3 +/- 1.5 with the increase of AG content from 0 to 23 wt.%. The adsorption of bovine serum albumin and the adhesion of platelet as well as the attachment of macrophage on the membrane surface can also be observably suppressed. These results reveal that both the hydrophilicity and the hemocompatibility of polyacrylonitrile-based membranes can be efficiently improved by the copolymerization of acrylonitrile with sugar-containing vinyl monomers. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.