Characterization of the Porous Structure of HPLC Packings Based on Di(-Acrylic Phenyl)Sulphone and DVB

Abstract

Studies of the porous structure of the polymeric microspheres synthesized from di( p -acrylic phenyl)sulphone (DAS), ( p -hydroxyphenyl- p -acrylic phenyl)sulphone (HAS) and divinylbenzene (DVB) are presented. The porous structure was characterized by the nitrogen adsorption method, inverse exclusion chromatography and atomic force microscopy. To describe the tendency of the microspheres to swell, the swelling propensities and the swellability coefficient were also determined. The results show that both polymers studied can be used as packing materials in chromatography. Their porous structures are relatively stable since they are characterized by a high degree of crosslinking. In addition, the polymer ASP–OH containing reactive hydroxyl functional groups provides a convenient starting material for chemical modifications.