Preparation and Characterization of Hypercrosslinked Poly (HEMA-co-EGDMA-co-VBC)

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of this paper was to produce hydroxyl hypercrosslinked polymers with high specific surface area derived from poly(HEMA- co -EGDMA- co -VBC) precursor beads. Methods: This was achieved using hyper crosslinking reaction and the beads were characterized by FTIR, SEM and BET analysis. Findings: The BET analysis showed that specific surface area increasing from ~5 m 2 /g to 310 m 2 /g when amount of VBC increased up to 90 wt%. However, when amount of EGDMA increasing from 40 wt% to 100 wt%, specific surface area decreasing from 310 m 2 /g to ~61 m 2 /g. SEM images also showed that when increasing EGDMA content, hypercrosslinked polymer still can retain precursor shape with satisfied quality. The catalyst ratio was varied between 1:1 to 3:1 mole ratio (based on -CH 2 Cl content) and from the results obtained, there are no significant effect on specific surface area and morphology of hypercrosslinked polymer when ratio of catalyst increased. From FTIR spectra, reduction peak at 1265 cm -1 resulted from methylene bridges formed in all experiments proved that hypercrosslinking reaction was successfully carried out. Application/Improvement: Hypercrosslinked polymer will be used in functionalization reaction to produce quaternary ammonium resin.