Monodisperse polymeric particles by photoinitiated precipitation polymerization

Monodisperse polymer particles consisting of DVB and styrene-copoly-DVB were successfully synthesized by photoinitiated precipitation polymerization with 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) (AIBN) as initiator. A focused 150 W xenon short arc lamp was used to radiate the sample mixtures. The size of the particles ranged from 1.5 to 4 mu m and could be varied by changing the monomer concentration between 2 and 10% (v/v) and by means of the time of polymerization. By using photoinitiation instead of thermal initiation, it was possible to avoid coagulum and arrive at spherical particles with an exceptionally high monodispersity for particles of this size range (polydispersity index < 1.02) and with monomer loadings well above 5%.