Preparation, structure and morphology of polymer supports

The use of polymer resin beads as an aid to synthesis is becoming an increasingly common feature in both academic and industrial synthesis laboratories. The large majority of users employ materials sourced commercially and adopt or adapt procedures already described in the literature without thinking too deeply about the physico-chemical aspects of the support. Success can be immediate, but more often a learning curve needs to be traversed. The present article seeks to describe the chemistry of synthesising supports and to present a user-friendly description of their key physico-chemical properties. A qualitative and pictorial view of how specific morphologies can be generated, and the relevance of these, is also presented. It is hoped that this insight will be of advantage to users in planning and pursuing their chemistry using polymer supports.