Synthesis and structure of polymer supports

The most used supports are spherical crosslinked vinyl polymers prepared by suspension polymerisation techniques. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to go into too much detail and readers are referred to chapter one in Ref. 14 and chapter one in Ref. 18, and indeed to the numerous references cited in those chapters. The former text focuses on synthesis and the latter on the current state-of-the-art understanding of the structure of resins. 

On an industrial scale reactors of similar design, but in steel, yield typically 3000 kg of beads per batch and these are caught on a stainless steel screen, washed with water, then steam stripped of volatile organics before drying. 

The picture presented above is adequate for many potential users of polymer supports, but it must be emphasised that this is oversimplified. Indeed, evaluation of the detailed morphology of resins and unravelling the mechanism of formation, themselves remain areas of on-going research [34]. The description and discussion produced by Guyot is particularly detailed [35] and readers wishing more insight are directed to this, and a very useful review by Albright [36]. 

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Guyot, A. (1988) Synthesis and Structure of Polymer Supports, in Synthesis and Separations Using Functional Polymers (eds D.C. Sherrington and P. Hodge), John Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, pp. 1-42. 

Guyot, A. Synthesis and structure of polymer supports. In Synthesis and Separations using Functional Polymers, Sherrington, D.C., Hodge, P., Eds. John Wiley and Sons London 1988, 1-42. 

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