“Molded” Macroporous Poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate) Materials with Fine Controlled Porous Properties: Preparation of Monoliths Using Photoinitiated Polymerization

A model system has been developed for in situ photopolymerization of glycidyl methacrylate and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, leading to macroporous monolithic sorbents. This model system allows the preparation of continuous porous objects intended for applications such as detection, separation, and catalysis. The ease of the preparation, the short time needed for reaction, and the possibility of running the reaction at a low temperature are some of the main advantages of the photoinitiated in situ polymerization compared to a thermally initiated polymerization. Important system variables acting upon the porous properties and flow characteristics of the monoliths have been investigated in an experimental 2 3 full factorial design. The porous properties of the monoliths are a direct consequence of the quality of the porogenic solvent, as well as the percentage of cross-linking monomer and the ratio between the monomer and porogen phases. The presence of interactive effects between these reaction conditions were verified using multivariate analysis. It was concluded that the pore formation mechanism in an in situ photopolymerization follows rules similar to those found earlier for thermally initiated in situ polymerization of poly(glycidyl methacrylate- co -ethylenedimethacrylate) and poly(styrene- co -divinylbenzene).