The Effect of Different Porogens on Porous PMMA Microspheres by Seed Swelling Polymerization and Its Application in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Bing Yu; Tingting Xue; Long Pang; Xiulan Zhang; Youqing Shen; Hailin Cong

doi:10.3390/ma11050705

The Effect of Different Porogens on Porous PMMA Microspheres by Seed Swelling Polymerization and Its Application in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Materials (Basel). 2018 Apr 29;11(5):705. doi: 10.3390/ma11050705.

Authors

Bing Yu^{1

2}, Tingting Xue³, Long Pang⁴, Xiulan Zhang⁵, Youqing Shen⁶, Hailin Cong^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. yubingqdu@yahoo.com.
² Laboratory for New Fiber Materials and Modern Textile, Growing Base for State Key Laboratory, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. yubingqdu@yahoo.com.
³ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. xuetingt@126.com.
⁴ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. panglongstuta@163.com.
⁵ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. 18765916806@139.com.
⁶ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. amnano@163.com.
⁷ Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. conghailin@qdu.edu.cn.
⁸ Laboratory for New Fiber Materials and Modern Textile, Growing Base for State Key Laboratory, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. conghailin@qdu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Monodisperse cross-linked porous poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres (~2.5 μm in diameter) were prepared by using an improved two-step seed swelling polymerization method with monodisperse micron-grade PMMA microspheres seeds. The porous PMMA microspheres with diverse surface morphology and pore structure were obtained by tuning porogen systems. The monodisperse porous PMMA microspheres, which were prepared using toluene:dibutylphthalate (DBP) = 1:1 (v/v) as a porogen system, had the smallest pore size and the largest specific surface area. Then, the monodisperse porous PMMA microspheres were subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography. The liquid chromatographic column filler successfully realized complete separation of arginine, glycine and glutamic acid, and the separation effect was good. The porous PMMA microspheres provide a new material for the separation of amino acids by liquid chromatography.

Keywords: high-performance liquid chromatography; poly (methyl methacrylate), seed swelling polymerization; porous microspheres.