Abstract
Polymer monoliths with highly developed porous structure have been successfully synthesized by polymerization of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone with trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate and divinylbenzene. During the copolymerization, the mixtures of toluene/n-dodecane and toluene/decan-1-ol were used as pore-forming diluents. The thermodynamic quality of the porogen mixtures strongly influences the process of the pore formation. By changing the ratio of non-solvating and solvating diluents, monoliths with surface area from 57 to 650 m2 g−1 and pore diameters from 4 to 51 nm were prepared. Thermal properties of the obtained materials were investigated by the means of thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that they do not depend on the diluent composition but are determined by the type of cross-linker used in the synthesis.
Highlights
One of the significant trends in modern chromatography is searching for new materials as adsorbents to improve the mass transfer, allow fast separation and provide column stability in the whole range of pH
Polymer monoliths were prepared by free radical crosslinking polymerization
The obtained experimental data clearly indicate that it is possible to control the porous properties of molded material within a broad range changing the diluent composition used during synthesis
Summary
One of the significant trends in modern chromatography is searching for new materials as adsorbents to improve the mass transfer, allow fast separation and provide column stability in the whole range of pH. The packing based on porous polymers can meet these requirements. They provide a huge variety of functional groups. Application of the obtained monoliths as HPLC packing requires a sufficiently large specific surface area that provides interacting sites. The most substantial contribution to the overall surface area comes from the micropores. In terms of HPLC measurements, micropores lead to reduction in mass transfer and peak broadening. Pores with sizes smaller than 2 nm are undesirable in the internal structure of the monoliths. Considerable pore connectivity facilitates the mass transfer kinetics and allows the mobile
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