Facile approach to glycidyl methacrylate-based polyHIPE monoliths with high epoxy-group content

Recent advances in separation applications of polymerized high internal phase emulsions

Polymerized high internal phase emulsions as highly porous adsorption materials have received increasing attention and wide applications in separation science in recent years due to their remarkable merits such as highly interconnected porosity, high permeability, good thermal and chemical stability, and tailorable chemistry. In this review, we attempt to introduce some strategies to utilize polymerized high internal phase emulsions for separation science, and highlight the recent advances made in the applications of polymerized high internal phase emulsions for diverse separation of small organic molecules, carbon dioxide, metal ions, proteins, and other interesting targets. Potential challenges and future perspectives for polymerized high internal phase emulsion research in the field of separation science are also speculated at the end of this review.

Preparation of PolyHIPE Scaffolds for 3D Cell Culture and the Application in Cytotoxicity Evaluation of Cigarette Smoke

Polystyrene-based polyHIPE (polymerized high internal phase emulsion) materials were prepared by the copolymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene in the continuous phase of a HIPE. The resultant polyHIPE materials were found to have an open-cellular morphology and high porosity, and the polyHIPE structure could be well adjusted by varying the water/oil (W/O) ratio and the amount of emulsifier in the HIPE. Cell culture results showed that the resultant polyHIPE materials, which exhibited larger voids and connected windows as well as high porosity, could promote cell proliferation on the 3D scaffold. A 3D cell cytotoxicity evaluation system was constructed with the polystyrene-based polyHIPE materials as scaffolds and the cigarette smoke cytotoxicity was evaluated. Results showed that the smoke cytotoxicity against A549 cells is much lower in the 3D cell platform compared to the traditional 2D system, showing the great potential of the polyHIPE scaffolds for 3D cell culture and the cytotoxic evaluation of cigarette smoke.

Polyvinyl alcohol-based hydrophilic monoliths from water-in-oil high internal phase emulsion template

Herein, we report a new approach to fabricate polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based hydrophilic monoliths by alcoholysis of porous emulsion-templated polyvinyl acetate (PVAc). The precursory PVAc-based monolith is obtained by polymerization of a W/O high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) containing vinyl acetate as the external phase while water as the internal phase. As an alcoholysis-stable tri-functional commonomer, triallyl isocyanurate is chosen as the crosslinking agent to prevent possible collapse of the polymeric skeleton and the consequent losses in mechanical properties during the alcoholysis step. By alcoholysis of the resulting PVAc-based monolith, the PVA-based monoliths are successful prepared as confirmed by FTIR analysis. BET analysis and SEM observation confirm the formation of open-cell and highly interconnected porous structures of PVA-based monoliths with surface areas of around 16m²/g. Stemming from the intrinsic hydrophilicity of hydroxyl and morphology, PVA-based monoliths exhibit great enhancement in hydrophilicity with a much lower water contact angles than that of PVAc-based monoliths.

Synthesis of hydrogel polyHIPEs from functionalized glycidyl methacrylate

Highly porous hydrogels based on functionalized glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) have been successfully prepared through the high internal phase oil-in-water emulsions.