Janja Majer1 and Peter Krajnc2,*
1 University of Maribor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department
of Chemistry,
Koro{ka 160, Maribor, Slovenia
2 University of Maribor, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,
Laboratory for Organic
and Polymer Chemistry, Smetanova 17, Maribor, Slovenia
* Corresponding author: E-mail: peter.krajnc@uni-mb.si
Abstract
By using emulsions with high volume fractions of internal phase as
polymerisation media porous copolymers of acrylic
acid and acrylamide, cross-linked by methylenebisacrylamide, were prepared. The
ratio of acrylic acid to acrylamide
were varied (molar ratios 70:30, 50:50, 30:70) in order to yield polymers with
various loading of acidic functional
groups. Porous polymers with an open-cellular architecture were obtained with
void diameters between 2.8 μm and 3.9
μm and with interconnecting pores approx. 0.3 μm in diameter. The chemical
composition of the polymers influenced
the conversion degrees during the process of functionalisation of acidic groups
to acid chloride, being the highest in the
case of polymer with the lowest content of acrilyc acid.
Keywords: Porous monoliths, copolymers, polyacrylic acid, polyacrylamide, polyHIPE, high internal phase emulsions