Hydrophilic Polysiloxane Microspheres and Ceramic SiOC Microspheres Derived from Them

Preparation and application of UPLC silica microsphere stationary phase:A review

In this review, microspheres for ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) were reviewed in accordance with the literature in recent years. As people's demands for chromatography are becoming more and more sophisticated, the preparation and application of UPLC stationary phases have become the focus of researchers in this field. This new analytical separation science not only maintains the practicality and principle of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), but also improves the step function of chromatographic performance. The review presents the morphology of four types of sub-2 μm silica microspheres that have been used in UPLC, including non-porous silica microspheres (NPSMs), mesoporous silica microspheres (MPSMs), hollow silica microspheres (HSMs) and core-shell silica microspheres (CSSMs). The preparation, pore control and modification methods of different microspheres are introduced in the review, and then the applications of UPLC in drug analysis and separation, environmental monitoring, and separation of macromolecular proteins was presented. Finally, a brief overview of the existing challenges in the preparation of sub-2 μm microspheres, which required further research and development, was given.

Design and Performance Comparison of Polymer-Derived Ceramic Ambigels and Aerogels

This work reports the synthesis and characterization of preceramic- and polymer-derived SiOC aerogels obtained from a commercial siloxane resin. The preceramic aerogels were obtained by ambient pressure drying (ambigels) and CO2 supercritical drying. Despite different drying processes, the final ceramic ambi/aerogels have very similar microstructural features in density, porosity, pore size, and specific surface area. Both materials have shown promising results for oil sorption and water cleaning. Supercritically dried-SiOC aerogel had low thermal conductivity with 0.046 W·m-1·K-1 at RT and 0.073 W·m-1·K-1 at 500 °C. These results suggest that substituting the rather complicated and expensive CO2-SC drying with the more friendly and cheap ambient pressure drying can be done without having to accept significant microstructural/property degradation.

Self-Restructuring of Polyhydromethylsiloxanes by the Hydride Transfer Process: A New Approach to the Cross-Linking of Polysiloxanes and to the Fabrication of Thin Polysiloxane Coatings

The branching and cross-linking of siloxane polymers are important processes in silicone technology. A new type of such a process has been developed, which is a self-restructuring of linear polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS). This process involves the reorganization of the PHMS to form a highly branched siloxane polymer or finally a cross-linked siloxane network. It occurs through the transfer of a hydride ion between silicon atoms catalyzed by tris(pentafluoromethyl)borane. Its advantage over existing branching and cross-linking reactions is that it runs at room temperature without a low-molecular-weight cross-linker in the absence of water, silanol groups, or other protic compounds and it does not use metal catalysts. The study of this process was carried out in toluene solution. Its course was followed by ¹H NMR, ²⁹Si NMR and FTIR, SEC, and gas chromatography. A general mechanism of this new self-restructuring process supported by quantum calculations is proposed. It has been shown that a linear PHMS self-restructured to a highly branched polymer can serve as a pure methylsiloxane film precursor.

Porous SiC and SiC/Cf Ceramic Microspheres Derived from Polyhydromethylsiloxane by Carbothermal Reduction

A simple and inexpensive method for the preparation of porous SiC microspheres is presented. Polysiloxane microspheres derived from polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS) cross-linked with divinylbenzene (DVB) were ceramized under conditions leading to the removal of oxygen from the material. The content of free carbon (C_f) in highly crystalline silicon carbide (SiC) particles can be controlled by using various proportions of DVB in the synthesis of the pre-ceramic material. The chemical structure of the ceramic microspheres was studied by elemental analysis for carbon and oxygen, ²⁹Si MAS NMR, ¹³C MAS NMR, SEM/EDS, XRD and Raman spectroscopies, and their morphology by SEM, nitrogen adsorption and mercury intrusion porosimetries. The gaseous products of the thermal reduction processes formed during ceramization created a porous structure of the microspheres. In the SiC/C_f microspheres, meso/micro pores were formed, while in carbon-free SiC, microspheres macroporosity dominated.

Polysiloxanes Grafted with Mono(alkenyl)Silsesquioxanes-Particular Concept for Their Connection

Herein, a facile and efficient synthetic route to unique hybrid materials containing polysiloxanes and mono(alkyl)silsesquioxanes as their pendant modifiers (T₈@PS) was demonstrated. The idea of this work was to apply the hydrosilylation reaction as a tool for the efficient and selective attachment of mono(alkenyl)substituted silsesquioxanes (differing in the alkenyl chain length, from -vinyl to -dec-9-enyl and types of inert groups iBu, Ph at the inorganic core) onto two polysiloxanes containing various amount of Si-H units. The synthetic protocol, determined and confirmed by FT-IR in situ and NMR analyses, was optimized to ensure complete Si-H consumption along with the avoidance of side-products. A series of 20 new compounds with high yields and complete β-addition selectivity was obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods.

Polysiloxane Derived Macroporous Silicon Oxycarbide Microspheroidal Particles and Their Decoration with 1D Structures

A simple method of synthesis for the macroporous SiOC spheroidal microparticles was developed. Preceramic polysiloxane macroporous microbeads were obtained by a one-step aqueous emulsion process involving poly(hydromethylsiloxane) (PHMS) with the addition of FeCl3·6H2O. Thermal treatment of these particles gave various SiOC materials depending on the pyrolysis temperature. Hierarchically porous spheroidal mezo-macroporous ceramers were obtained at 600 °C. Heating at 850–1000 °C gave SiOC ceramic spheroidal particles with about 60% open porosity. Ceramization at 1200–1400 °C led to the particles decorated with ceramic whiskers and wires. Heating at 1600 °C gave wires and spilled ceramic particles. These 1D ceramic structures were formed by a Vapor–Liquid–Solid (VLS) mechanism.