Preparation of porous sulfonated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) microspheres and its application in hydrophilic and chiral separation

Monodisperse cross-linked poly (styrene-divinylbenzene) (P(S-DVB)) porous microspheres with a particle size of about 10 μm were obtained by using the improved two-step seed swelling polymerization method. The influence of different crosslinking degree on specific surface area of porous microparticles was carefully investigated. The surface morphology and pore structure of seed microspheres and porous microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), accelerated surface area and porosimetry analyzer. Porous P(S-DVB) microparticles were sulfonated and used as a hydrophilic column packing material for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The separation of oxalic acid, formic acid, acetic acid and acrylic acid was achieved by using the sulfonated-P(S-DVB) particles as packing materials in HPLC. The back pressure of sulfonated-P(S-DVB) column could be maintained at especially low level even at high flow rates due to the excellent permeability of the fillers. Moreover, the separation of chiral drugs was successfully carried out by using the chitosan coated sulfonated-P(S-DVB) microspheres as a column packing material in HPLC. By using water soluble non-toxic photosensitive diazoresin (DR) as linker, a green and facile way to modify packing materials was developed.