Organic ion exchangers as beads. Synthesis, characterization and applications

Two less explored strategies in the preparation of porous organic ion exchangers in bead form are presented in this paper: the preparation of macroporous strong base anion exchangers with N,N-diethyl-2-hydroxyethyl benzylammonium chloride units, a less explored chloromethylation reagent of the styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers being used, and the preparation of anion exchangers with primary amine groups by the aminolysis-hydrolysis reaction with 1,2-diaminoethane of the nitrile groups, contained in some porous copolymers of acrylonitrile-divinylbenzene, followed by the carboxymethylation of the primary amine groups to prepare chelating ion exchangers. The influence of porogen nature, monomers dilution and crosslinking degree on the properties of the ion exchangers was examined. Structural characterization, functionalization-morphology correlations, the ion exchange properties, and potential applications for the ion exchangers thus prepared have been discussed. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.