Four Kinds of Polymer Microspheres Prepared by the Seed Swelling Method Used to Purify the Industrial Production of Phytol

Abstract Four monodisperse porous polymer microspheres were successfully prepared by seed emulsion polymerization and used as stationary phases for HPLC and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (Prep-HPLC). All four polymer microspheres(polystyrene–polystyrene (PS-PS), polystyrene-poly(glycidyl methylate) (PS-PGMA), polystyrene-poly(methyl methylate) and poly(glycidyl methylate)–poly(glycidyl methylate) were used for filling HPLC empty columns. According to the analysis results of the HPLC column, PS-PS and PS-PGMA microspheres were screened out as the stationary phase of Prep-HPLC. The industrial-grade phytol was successfully separated and purified, and the purity of the final phytol was as high as 99%. The two types of polymer microspheres have been applied to industrial-grade phytol purification and have been used in factories.