Fast and facile fabrication of porous polymer particles via thiol–ene suspension photopolymerization

Abstract

A fast and facile method of preparing porous polymer particles via thiol–ene suspension photopolymerization was studied. The porous particles were fabricated by adding the porogen to the click chemistry system. In this paper, the photopolymerization of dipentaerythritol hexakis (3-mercaptopropionate), pentaerythritol tetrakis (3-mercaptopropionate), 1,3,5-tri-2-propenyl-1,3,5-triazine- 2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione, sodium dodecyl sulfate, chloroform and different amounts of linear polymer porogen (polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA) was discussed in detail. The two crucial factors, polymerization time and amount of porogen, were investigated. It was demonstrated that the conversion of monomers could reach 80% within 15 s of irradiation, which further verified the high efficiency of click chemistry. By varying the amount of PMMA, we were able to tailor the particle size, pore diameters and morphology of the porous particles. Results of the mercury porosimetry indicated that the median pore diameter of particles was about 12.39 μm and the surface area was 4.393 m² g⁻¹. Moreover, the T_g of the particles given by DSC was about 45 °C.