Atom transfer radical polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate followed by amination on the surface of monodispersed highly crosslinked polymer microspheres and the study of cation adsorption

Abstract The introduction of reactive groups on the surface of monodispersed highly crosslinked poly(styrene–divinylbenzene) (PSDVB) microspheres was accomplished in two steps. The first step requires immobilizing the initiating groups by a Friedel–Craft acylation between 2-chloropropionyl chlorides and the phenyl groups on the spheres. The second step requires the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) to obtain spheres (PSDVB-g-PGMA) with epoxy groups on the surface. To demonstrate the feasibility of introducing functionality, the epoxy groups were ring-opened by ethylenediamines, resulting in spheres with amino functionality (PSDVB-g-PGMAEDA). The final spheres were found to have an adsorption capacity of 0.66 mmol/g in the Cu2+ adsorption experiments, as a preliminary application study.