Preparation of anion-exchange resin from styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer obtained by concentrated emulsion polymerization method

Concentrated emulsion polymerization was used for the synthesizing of cross-linked polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) containing 10% (X-10) and 16% (X-16) DVB with pore size less than 10 μm. For application of these resins as columns' filler in ion-exchange chromatography; chloromethylation and then amination processes were performed via aqueous trimethylamine. The chloromethylation reactions was done by 1,4-bis(chloromethoxy) butane in dichloromethane and in the presence of stannic chloride as catalyst at 0°C. The exchange capacities of anion exchange resins X-16 (CE=3.5 meq/g) and X-10 (CE=3.8 meq/g) was determined by titration procedure. The structure of PS-DVB was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) technique. The SEM images showed that the porous structure of PS-DVB resin was approximately maintained intact after chloromethylation and amination reactions. TGA and FTIR techniques were used to investigate the thermogravimetric analysis and structures of obtained resins, respectively.