Acrylic three dimensional networks - I. Copolymers with acrylamidoalkylenamine functional groups

The paper is devoted to the correlation between the crosslinking and the main features of ion exchangers obtained by aminolysis with different polyalkylenpolyamines of the divinylbenzene-acrylonitrile-ethylacrylate and divinylbenzene-vinylacetate-ethylacrylate copolymers obtained by suspension copolymerization in the presence of toluene as an inert component or porogen. A positive effect of the hydroxyl functional groups on thr aminolysis process is observed. The dependence curves of the main features of the ion exchanger versus crosslinking suggest modifications in their three dimensional networks physical structure. The obtained low crosslinked (crosslinking ranged between 1.0% and 4.0%) acrylic ion exchangers have the swelling coefficients value ranging between 450.0% and 50.0% and the water retention ranging between 11.78 and 2.00 g water (g dry sample)(-1), proving a highly hydrophillic 3D structures. The ion exchangers having the crosslinking near or at and over 10.0% retain the small water quantities and present the insignificant volume variation ar the change of the ionic form. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.