Porous crosslinked spherical resins for diversified applications: Packing materials for size exclusion chromatography

Improvements in the synthesis of porous polymers for different applications have been carried out in our laboratory. Beads of poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) with morphology adequate to the application at hand were prepared. Packing materials for size exclusion chromatography (SEC) were prepared by single-step swelling and polymerization (SSWP) and by modified suspension polymerization (MSP). High values of exclusion limit (10(6) and 8.0x10(6)) were attained for SEC columns packed with poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) synthesized using high proportions of polystyrene, as porogen agent, and divinylbenzene. The maximum values of exclusion limits were attained for SEC columns packed with beads prepared by SSWP method.