Divinylbenzene dispersion crosslinker

By far the most studied PolyHIPE system is the styrene/divinylbenzene (DVB) material. This was the main subject of Barby and Haq s patent to Unilever in 1982 [128], HIPEs of an aqueous phase in a mixture of styrene, DVB and nonionic surfactant were prepared. Both water-soluble (e.g. potassium persulphate) and oil-soluble (2,2 -azo-bis-isobutyronitrile, AIBN) initiators were employed, and polymerisation was carried out by heating the emulsion in a sealed plastic container, typically for 24 hours at 50°C. This yielded a solid, crosslinked, monolithic polymer material, with the aqueous dispersed phase retained inside the porous microstructure. On exhaustive extraction of the material in a Soxhlet with a lower alcohol, followed by drying in vacuo, a low-density polystyrene foam was produced, with a permanent, macroporous, open-cellular structure of very high porosity (Fig. 11). 

Hydrogenation is the most well studied area among immobilized palladium catalysis. While a great majority of the applications focused on the use of support such as alumina and activated carbon, a great diversity of novel support systems have been reported in recent years, aimed at finding a catalyst with a well-characterized coordination sphere and tailor-made activity. Pd(0) catalysts dispersed on crosslinked styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers have been prepared by impregnation of lipophilic complexes followed by reduction with hydrazine. It was found that the functional groups in the polymer as well as polymer particle sizes had a major effect on catalyst activity.t [i53]-[i95]... 

The principal monomers butadiene, styrene, vinyl acetate, (meth)acrylates and acrylonitrile essenhally determine the material properties of films made from the corresponding dispersions the glass transition temperature, the water absorption capacity, the elasticity, etc. Auxiliary monomers, which are only used in a small proportion, usually <5 %, control important properties such as colloid-chemical stabilization (acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, acrylamide, methacrylamide), crosslinking within the particles (difunctional acrylates, divinylbenzene, etc.) or hydrophilic properties (OH-containing monomers, such as hydroxyacrylates). Reactive monomers which still contain a latently reactive group even after incorporation into the polymer, for example glycidylmethacrylate or N-methylol(meth)acrylamide, can form a network between various particles and polymer molecules after film formation. 

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