Dispersion copolymerization of styrene and other vinyl monomers in polar solvents

Synthesis of Controllable Carboxylated Polystyrene Microspheres by Two-Step Dispersion Polymerization with Hydrocarbon Alcohols

Carboxylated polystyrene (PS) microspheres were synthesized by the two-step dispersion polymerization of styrene in hydrocarbon alcohols (CnH2n+1OH,n=1–5) in the presence of acrylic acid (AA) as a functional comonomer, 2,2′-azobis-(2-methylbutyronitrile) (AMBN) as the initiator and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP55) as the dispersant. The effects of solvent type, AA concentration, and first reaction time on the carboxyl content on the microsphere surfaces were investigated. The PS microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and gel permeation chromatography. The results showed that the first reaction time of the two-stage dispersion polymerization had a great influence on the nucleation process, and appropriately prolonging the first-step reaction time had a great influence on the surface carboxyl content. The effect of the solvent on the surface carboxyl content of PS microspheres was significant. With n-butanol as the solvent, the carboxyl group content on the surface of the microspheres reached 57.05 mg/g.

Stabilized enzyme immobilization on micron-size PSt–GMA microspheres: different methods to improve the carriers' surface biocompatibility

Stabilized immobilization of biomacromolecules on carriers with appropriate orientation and minimum conformational changes is very important in the biochemical and biomedical fields.

Monodisperse polystyrene microspheres by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and other vinyl comonomers: characterization and protein adsorption properties

Dispersion polymerization is a very attractive method for preparing micron-size monodisperse polymeric microspheres. The applications of microspheres have been greatly extended by using comonomers. In the present study, five kinds of polystyrene microspheres of 4-6 microm in diameters bearing different surface functional groups were synthesized by copolymerization of styrene and various vinyl comonomers. Their surface physicochemical characteristics were examined, including average particle size and size distribution, concentration of surface functional groups, as well as hydrophobicity. Concentration of FT-IR spectra of different samples were also discussed. The effects of microspheres' surface physicochemical properties on the isotherms of adsorption and chemisorption of BSA were determined. The results show that microspheres bearing different surface function groups have different capacity of protein adsorption. Besides, since the protein adsorption behaviors were more complex than the ideal adsorption model, the isotherms could not fit Freundlich model very well. Possible reasons were discussed. Knowledge gained from these results may be utilized for rational design of carriers of receptors and antibodies used in solid-phase immunoassay, especially Scintillation proximity assay in High-throughput Screening.