Sulfonated poly (styrene‐co‐ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) with attractive ion exchange capacity

Abstract

Sulfonated resins are applied as catalysts in different reactions such as esterification, etherification, and transesterification. Poly (styrene‐co‐divinylbenzene) particles are the most used material for this kind of application. However, the development of copolymer resins with a longer crosslinker and more flexible chains could improve diffusion, mechanical, and chemical properties allowing the development of customized materials. In the present study, the use of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, as crosslinker, was assessed in order to find optimal conditions to produce particles with high ion exchange capacity. The experimental study provided sulfonated styrene‐co‐(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) with ion exchange capacities up to 5.98 meq/g. The present formulations provided resins with similar properties when compared with ion exchange capacity of commercially available products, such as Amberlyst® and Lewatit® resins. Furthermore, the present sulfonation process is energetically attractive because the reactions can be carried out at relatively low temperatures (approximately 58°C) and less reagent amounts in comparison with well‐known synthesis processes.

Sulfonic Containing Polymer Bead Synthesized through Inverse Suspension Polymerization and Its Characteristics for Esterification Catalyst

“…The titration was used to measure ion exchange capacity. The pretreated polymer beads with acid were dried by freezedrying for a whole day, and 40 mg beads were taken, suspended in 10 mL deionized water, and titrated with 0.1 mol/L standard NaOH aqueous solution in the presence of a phenolphthalein indicator [17][18][19].…”

Modeling the Effect of Cross-Link Density on Resins Catalytic Activities

“…It is understood that the inaccessibility of a molecule to a given region in the polymer matrix depends on the size of this molecule. In general, sulfonating agents are small molecules 17 which can access more sites than molecules involved in a catalyzed reaction (e.g., esterification). Hence, it was considered that sulfonated units are equally distributed along the polymer matrix regardless of the entanglement degree.…”

Synthesis of Sulfonated Poly[Styrene‐co‐(Trimethylolpropane Triacrylate)] and Application in the Catalysis of Glycerol Acetylation

“…Sulfonated styrene‐based resins play a key role in science and have applications in many areas, since they have the advantage of being reused and therefore meet current environmental needs. [ 1–4 ] Oversulfonated resins swell better in a polar component than conventionally sulfonated resins. In addition to the polar character associated with sulfonic groups, the degree of cross‐linking directly affects the swelling ability of such resins.…”